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Stella vs Stephfon

American parents have registered 207,288 Stellas since 1880, against 66 Stephfons. Stella is still ahead, with 4,136 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Stella against Stephfon, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Stella Stephfon

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Stella has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1996, when Stella had 149 and Stephfon had 12.

Side by side

  Stella Stephfon
Total US births 207,28866
Most in one year 5,16412
Babies in 2025 4,136under 5
Estimated living today 110,00060
Median age today 1129
Peak year 20181996
Best rank 38th girls4,878th boys
Rank in 2025 52ndunranked
First recorded 18801962
Girls / boys 206,906 / 3820 / 66

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Stephfons alive today are over 29; half the Stellas are over 11. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Stella and Stephfon.