Stephen
A surname from the given name Stephen, ultimately meaning “crown” or “wreath.”
The #3,585 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,108 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stephen comes from the personal name Stephen, which goes back to Greek Stephanos, meaning “crown” or “wreath.” The name passed into Latin as Stephanus and into early English usage through Christian tradition and Norman influence. As a surname, it usually began as a patronymic for someone identified as “Stephen’s son” or as a descendant of a man named Stephen.
History
Historical surname forms include Stephens, Stevens, Stephenson, Stevenson, and related shortened or altered spellings. One 19th-century source notes that the given name became common in England after the Norman Conquest, especially in forms connected with Fitz-Stephen and later hereditary surnames. The name was reinforced by the popularity of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Greek root behind Stephen also gives us the word “Stephenian” in historical and religious contexts, through the idea of a crown or garland.
From the historical record
“Cp. Stanton. STEPHEN (Gr.) Crown or Wreath [Gr. "ZritpaviK, whence Lat. (and A.-Sax.) Stephanus] ...se forma c^Sere Stephanus (...the proto-martyr StephetC). — Mlfric's Homilies ('Dom. Sept'.) Seinte Stefne i)>olede [suffered] be stones. —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Stephen
- Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
- Marcus Stephen (b. 1969)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.