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Steele

#1,185 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Steele has been given to 3,191 babies in the U.S. since 1920. In 2025 it ranked #1,185 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 174 recorded.

Babies named Steele, 2025

1 in 19,100

Steele over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Steele: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Steele means

Steele is a given name.

The naming story behind Steele

Wikidata records Steele as a given name. The entity identifier is Q16281739, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,053 boys were recorded with the name Steele between 1920 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 174 in 2025; its best national rank was #1,185 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,561 in 2020 to #1,185 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,597 in 2015 to #1,185 in 2025.

In the United States, 138 girls were recorded with the name Steele between 2002 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 18 in 2023; its best national rank was #6,638 in 2023.

Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,065 in 2015 to #10,021 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Steele?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 19,100
174 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 9,820
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,185
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
13,207 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Steele sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 13,207 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Steele. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Steeles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Steele was born before 2013 — so the typical Steele is around 12 today.

Median birth year
2013
About 12 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
33.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
73.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,955
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 33.3% of all recorded uses (1,018).

Is Steele rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+196
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+376
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+412
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.72×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (174)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,185
2025

Spellings of Steele

Steele is not the most common spelling — Steve is, with 93.5% against Steele's 1.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Steele is used

Across 2016–2025, Steele was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 4,000 boys, against 1 in 18,144 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

125 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 4,000
  2. 2Arizona1 in 7,143
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 9,091
  4. 4Florida1 in 10,000
  5. 5Louisiana1 in 10,000
  6. 6Texas1 in 11,111
  7. 7Nebraska1 in 12,500
  8. 8Ohio1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Steele around the world

Where Steele ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2001–2021
    #4,789
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1994–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1953–2013
    #389
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Steele

People whose public names include Steele, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Steele by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,185
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 376
Best rank ever
#1,185
2025
Peak year
2025
174 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,053
Count in 2025
174

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#10,021
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#6,638
2023
Peak year
2023
18 that year
First recorded
2002
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
138
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Steele

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

StevanStefonStefanoStefenStevieStellanSteffenSteffanStephonStefanSteelSterlinStetsonStepanStevonStevensStewardStevensonStephanStewartStevinStephanoSteffonStefanos

Names with a curve like Steele

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Steele, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

UmarWolfgangAnasYasinDovidAmmarNikolaIsaYakovKaineLazarusObadiah

Sibling names for Steele

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Steele

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