Introduction

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= Steven =
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Introduction
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Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly
significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an
early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was
stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the first martyr (or
"protomartyr") of the Christian Church.

The name, in both the forms Stephen and Steven, is often shortened to
Steve or Stevie. In English, the female version of the name is
Stephanie.

Many surnames are derived from the first name, including Stephens,
Stevens, Stephenson, and Stevenson, all of which mean "Stephen's
(son)". In modern times the name has sometimes been given with
intentionally non-standard spelling, such as Stevan or Stevon. A
common variant of the name used in English is Stephan ( ); related
names that have found some currency or significance in English include
Stefan (pronounced or in English), Esteban (often pronounced ),
and the Shakespearean Stephano ( ). The spelling as Stephen also has
the pronunciation () which derived from the Greek origin of the name
Stephanos.

Origins
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The name "Stephen" (and its common variant "Steven") is derived from
Greek (), a first name from the Greek word (), meaning 'wreath,
crown' and by extension 'reward, honor, renown, fame', from the verb
(), 'to encircle, to wreathe'. In Ancient Greece, crowning wreaths
(such as laurel wreaths) were given to the winners of contests.
Originally, as the verb suggests, the noun had a more general meaning
of any "circle"—including a circle of people, a circling wall around a
city, and, in its earliest recorded use, the circle of a fight, which
is found in the Iliad of Homer.

In other languages
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Like all biblical names, Stephen has forms in other world languages.
Among them are:

* 'Esteban' — Spanish, Filipino, Basque
* 'Estebão ' — Old Portuguese
* 'Estepan', 'Estebe', 'Extiban', 'Estevan' — Old Spanish
* 'Estêvão' — Portuguese
* 'Esteve' — Catalan
* 'Estevo' — Galician
* 'Étienne' ("Estienne" is an archaic spelling), 'Stéphan',
'Stéphane', 'Stéphen', 'Stéfane', 'Stéphanne' — French
* 'İstefanos', 'Stefan' — Turkish
* 'İstfan', 'Stepan' — Azeri
* 'István', 'Stefán, Csépán' — Hungarian
* 'Ixtebe' — Basque
* 'Steabhán', 'Stíofán', 'Stiofán' — Irish
* 'Štefan' — Slovak, Slovene
* 'Stefan', 'Shtjefën', 'Fan' — Albanian language
* 'Stefan', 'Stefaan', 'Stefans', 'Steven', 'Stephan' — Afrikaans,
Dutch
* 'Stefan', 'Stephan', 'Steffen' — German
* 'Stefan', 'Stevan' — Cornish, as in Eglos'stefan', Lann'stevan'
* 'Stefan', 'Steven' — Breton, as in Sant-Stefan-ar-Roudouz, Gwion
Steven
* 'Ștefan', with the diminutives 'Ștefănel', 'Ștefăniță', 'Ștefănuț' —
Romanian
* 'Stefan', 'Szczepan' — Polish
* 'Stefano' — Esperanto
* 'Stefano' — Italian
* 'Stefans', 'Stepans', 'Stepons', 'Stīvens' — Latvian
* 'Stefanus', 'Stephanus' — Latin
* 'Stefán' — Icelandic
* 'Steven', 'Stephen', 'Stefanus', 'Stefan'— Indonesian
* 'Staffan', 'Stefan' — Swedish
* 'Steffan', 'Stifyn', 'Stîfyn' — Welsh
* 'Steffen' — Norwegian
* 'Steffen', 'Stephen', 'Stefan', 'Stephan' — Danish
* 'Steffeni, Stefani, Stiifaat' — Greenlandic
* 'Štěpán' — Czech
* 'Steponas', 'Stepas' — Lithuanian
* 'Stiefnu' — Maltese
* 'Stìobhan, Stìophan, Stèaphan' — Scottish Gaelic
* 'Stjepan, Stijepo, Stepan, Stipan, Stipe, Stipo, Stipa, Šćepan,
Šćepo, Štef, Stevko, Stevo, Stefan, Stevan, Stevica' — Serbo-Croatian
as in Stefan the First-Crowned
* 'Tapani', 'Teppana', 'Teppo' — Finnish
* 'Tipene' — Māori
* 'Tehvan' — Estonian
* Στέφανος ('Stephanos', 'Stefanos', 'Stephanas', 'Stepfan',
'Stephano', 'Stephanus' — Greek
* Степан ('Stepan,' the most common; Ukrainian), Стефан ('Stefan')
* Степан/'Stepan', Stepa, Stepka, Stepanya, Stepashka — Russian
* Стефан ('Stefan'), diminutive: Чефо ('Chefo'), Стефчо ('Stefcho'),
Стефо ('Stefo') — Bulgarian
* Стефан/Stefan, Стеван/Stevan, Стево/Stevo, Стефо/Stefo,
Стефче/Stefche — Macedonian
* ⲥⲧⲉⲫⲁⲛⲟⲥ ('Step(h)anos'), ⲥⲧⲉⲫⲁⲛⲉ ('Step(h)ana'), ⲥⲉⲧⲉⲡⲫⲉⲛ
('Sedephen') — Coptic
* Сцяпан/'Sciapan' — Belarusian
* Ычтапан/Içtapan — Tatar)
* სტეფანე ('Stepane') — Georgian
* Ստեփանոս ('Stepanos'), diminutive: Փանոս ('Panos') — Armenian
* סטיבן ('Stiven'), סטפן ('stefan') — Hebrew
* እስጢፋኖስ ('Estefanos') — Amharic

People with the name
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* List of people with given name Stephen
* Stephen (surname), including a list of people with the surname

Popularity
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In the United Kingdom, it peaked during the 1950s and 1960s as one of
the top ten male first names (ranking third in 1954) but had fallen to
twentieth by 1984 and had fallen out of the top one hundred by 2002.
The name was ranked 201 in the United States in 2009, according to the
Social Security Administration. The name reached its peak popularity
in 1951 but remained very common through the mid-1990s, when
popularity started to decrease in the United States.

In England and Wales, neither "Stephen" nor "Steven" was among the top
100 names for newborn boys in 2003-2007. In Scotland, "Steven" and
"Stephen" were the eighth and tenth most popular names for newborn
boys in 1975, but were not in the top ten in 1900, 1950 or 2000.
"Stephen" was 68th in 1900, and 46th in 1950, while "Steven" was not
in the top 100 either year. Neither spelling was in the top 100 names
for newborn boys in Scotland in 2008.

In the United States, the spelling "Stephen" reached its peak of
popularity between 1949 and 1951, when it was the 19th most popular
name for newborn boys. It stayed in the top 100 boys' names from 1936
through 2000, and for most years between 1897 and 1921. In 2008 it was
the 192nd most common name for boys. The spelling "Steven" reached its
peak during 1955-1961, when it was the tenth most popular name for
newborn boys. It stayed in the top 100 boys' names from 1941 through
2007. In 2008 it was the 104th most popular name for boys. Before the
20th century, the "Steven" spelling was heavily outweighed by
"Stephen", never reaching above 391st.

See also
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*
* Stevens (surname)
* Stephens (surname)
* Stephenson (surname)
* Stevenson (surname)
* Helen Steven (1942-2016), Scottish pacifist

License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven