Stephanos or Stefanos, in Greek Στέφανος, is a masculine given name derived from the Greek word στέφανος (stéphanos), meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", from the verb στέφειν (stéphein), "to encircle, to wreathe".[1][2] 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.[3] The English equivalent is Stephen.

People or biblical figures with the given name include:

References

  1. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  2. στέφανος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. Homer, Iliad, 13.736, on Perseus
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