Stephen

• Steven (as a given name or a surname)

From Latin Stephanus, from Ancient Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos), from στέφανος (stéphanos, “crown, wreath”), from στέφω (stéphō, “to put round, to surround”).

From *stegʷʰ- (“to enlace”) + -νος (-nos, suffix forming an adjective or noun) from Proto-Indo-European *-nós (suffix forming a verbal adjective from a verb stem).

• IPA^(key): /ˈstiːvən/, /ˈstɛfən/ (most common Anglophone pronunciations)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  Rhymes: -iːvən, -ɛfən

  Homophone: Steven

Stephen

1. (biblical) The first Christian martyr.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 6:8:

     And Steuen full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

2. A male given name from Ancient Greek.
   • 1852, William Harrison Ainsworth, “Tale of a Carpet-Bag”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 21, page 17:

     I, for my part, ask any candid reader if it was not bad enough to be called Broadfoot, without having it aggravated into Stephen Broadfoot? I feel confident I will here get a tear of sympathy from all unhappy Andrews and Peters, and Aarons and Samuels, with a smile of disdainful compassion from thrice-happy Franks and Charleys and Bills.

   • 1952, Thomas Pyles, Words and Ways of American English, Random House, page 245:

     It is doubtless true that American English lacks a tradition for the pronunciation of Anthony, a name which was not often bestowed upon American males until the comparatively recent craze for supposedly swank "British" Christian names, like Stephen, Peter, Michael, etc., in this country.

   • 2000, Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai, Miramax Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 142:

     I thought that ideally it should be a name which could work whether he was serious and reserved or butch, a name like Stephen which could be Steve or David which could be Dave.

   • 2020 August 25, Sara Ashley O'Brien and Rachel Metz, “Palantir files paperwork to go public and reveals it has never turned a profit”, in CNN Business‎^[1]:

     As part of the listing, the company is seeking to create a third class of shares that would give Thiel, Karp and fellow cofounder Stephen Cohen “49.999999%” of the total voting power.

   • 2023 December 27, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: the way to Weymouth”, in RAIL, number 999, page 52:

     Stephen reigned from 1135-1154, that nasty period of our history dubbed 'The Anarchy', when forces loyal to Stephen contested the throne with those of Henry I's daughter Matilda, who by rights should have been queen. Stephen, her cousin, plonked his own posterior on the throne.

3. A female given name.
   • 1905, Bram Stoker, The Man‎^[2]:

     Even in her fourteenth year Miss Stephen Norman gave promise of striking beauty; beauty of a rarely composite character.

4. A surname originating as a patronymic.
5. A minor city in Marshall County, Minnesota, United States, named after George Stephen.

• Kirkby Stephen

From English Stephen, from Latin Stephanus, from Ancient Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos), from στέφανος (stéphanos, “crown, wreath”), from στέφω (stéphō, “to put round, to surround”).

Stephen

1. a male given name from English [in turn from Latin, in turn from Ancient Greek]