Steve
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Meaning
short for Stephen, 'crown'
Famously borne by Steve Biko, founder of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement, who died in police custody.
The story
Steve is Stephen with the formality sanded off, and Stephen is the Greek stephanos, a crown or garland, the name of the first Christian martyr. What is distinctly American is putting Steve itself on the birth certificate, and the chart shows when that habit took hold: rising through the 1940s, peaking in the 1950s and 1960s, the very years Steve McQueen was turning the name into shorthand for effortless cool. The timing lines up too neatly to ignore, though no one can file the paperwork on cause and effect. Those midcentury cradles produced a generation of consequential Steves, Jobs and Wozniak and Martin among them, all born in or near the peak years. The name has settled since into modest, steady use, reading now as friendly and unpretentious, a first-name handshake. The crown is still there in the etymology; Steve just prefers not to mention it.
The formal names behind Steve
Steve is an established short form of each of these names.
Steven · Greek origin · crowned
Stephen · Greek origin · "crown"
Steve across languages
One shared root links 11 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Greek stephanos "crown, garland"
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Steve around the world?
In the United States, 723 babies were named Steve between 2020 and 2025. In Ireland, 5 boys named Steve were born in 2025, the 577th most common name among boys that year.
Steve is on the official records of the United States, Ireland, South Australia, Canada, Montevideo, England and Wales, Chile, Mexico City, Austria, France, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 30,000
In the United States, 723 babies were named Steve between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Steve peaked in the 1950s and the 1960s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Ireland
1 in 11,000
In Ireland, 5 boys named Steve were born in 2025, the 577th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Steve in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Canada
1 in 24,000
In Canada, 15 boys named Steve were born in 2024, ranked 1,459th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Montevideo City
1 in 25,0002011
In Montevideo, 1 boy named Steve was born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
England and Wales
1 in 33,000
In England and Wales, 18 boys named Steve were born in 2025, ranked 1,466th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Chile
1 in 45,000
In Chile, 4 boys were registered as Steve in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Mexico City City
1 in 59,000
In Mexico City, there were 2 registrations of Steve in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 boy named Steve was born in 2025, ranked 1,842nd among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 boys named Steve were born in 2025, ranked 3,668th among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Steve, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Spain
1 in 240,000
In Spain, 186 residents are named Steve, ranked 4,925th among men, with a mean age of 39.4 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 330,000
At the 2022 census, 663 people in Brazil were named Steve, ranked 10,996th, with a median age of 32.
Among people named Steve living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 41 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Argentina
last on record 2020
Steve is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
New Zealand
last on record 2022
Steve is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Norway
last on record 1998
Steve is not on the 2025 record for Norway, where names carried by fewer than 4 people in a year are withheld at source.
share of the boys on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
Puerto Rico
last on record 2004
Steve is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 42 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Scotland
last on record 2014
Steve is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Poland: that registry withholds small counts, so rare uses may sit below its floor.
When you meet Steve
Most people given the name Steve in the United States were born between 1950 and 1979. The Steve you meet today is most often in his 50s or 60s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names of revolutionaries and liberators · Names of founders and builders · What is Steve short for?
The Steve deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Steve truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Steve fits with your family’s names and surname.
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