From the first name Stefano, derived from the Greek word "stèphanos" = crown.

The authors agree that this surname derives from the given name Stefano, which in turn comes from the Latin Stephanus and the Greek Stéphanos, meaning "crown". E. De Felice notes that the name was already attested in the republican period among Greeks and Orientals, and that it was consolidated throughout Italy thanks to the prestige and the cult of Saint Stephen, protomartyr stoned in Jerusalem.

E. De Stefani broadens the hagiographic profile: Saint Stephen died after delivering a discourse in defence of Christian doctrine, and his relics, discovered in the year 415, reached Rome in 560. His feast is celebrated on 26 December. He adds that the Friulian form of the name is Stièfin, and that in the Carnia —a mountainous region of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine— the surname is documented from the 15th century, with the variant Steffan recorded in that same area.

De Felice details the formal distribution of the surname in Italy: the patronymics with De or Di are predominantly southern; the forms Stifano appear in Apulia and in the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the Apulia region—; the variants in -ato and -utto are typical of Veneto; and the types Stepan with Slavic patronymics in -ič correspond to Venezia Giulia, where they reflect the forms with which the name spread in Croatia and Slovenia. R. Brondolo notes a presence of the surname in northern Italy and in the canton of Ticino (Switzerland).