Stevie

Diminutive of Stephen or Stephanie, derived from the Greek Stephanos, meaning crown or garland. It functioned for decades as an informal household short form before midcentury radio gave it an independent life on the charts. By the late twentieth century, American parents began registering it directly on birth certificates for girls and boys alike.

On an adult, it suggests someone who can tune an acoustic guitar by ear and wears denim year-round. On a child, it reads as part of the modern wave of clipped, energetic nicknames promoted to full legal standing. It carries an easy, midcentury rock-and-roll casualness. It rarely asks to be lengthened to Stephanie.