Popularity of the name Steven, 1880–2025

Steven was at its most popular in 1955, when 37,847 boys were given the name: about 1 in 54 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #10. In 2025, 1,261 boys were named Steven, ranking #271. In all, Social Security counts 1,293,124 boys named Steven since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 4,466 girls named Steven.

Peak year

1955

Rank in 1955

#10

Babies in 1955

37,847

Rank in 2025

#271

Total since 1880

1,293,124

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #153 in 2015 to #271 in 2025: 2,715 boys got it in 2015, and 1,261 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1950s, when 333,666 boys were named Steven, #11 for the decade. It ranked #426 in the 1880s and #244 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 17 in 1880 (#425), 42 in 1900 (#330), 418 in 1920 (#269), 1,569 in 1940 (#119), 33,878 in 1960 (#10), 15,916 in 1980 (#28), 7,361 in 2000 (#54) and 1,681 in 2020 (#222).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 38,413, in 1956. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more boys for 1956 than for 1955, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank, #10, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Steven, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.