The name Stephen ( / Стефан, Stjepan / Стјепан, Stipan / Стипан, and others), long popular among South Slavic monarchs, was used as an honorific or as a royal title by various rulers of Serbia and claimants to the Serbian throne, most notably the Nemanjić kings of Serbia and the Kotromanić kings of Bosnia. Onomastics The name Stephen is derived from Greek Stephanos (Στέφανος, tr. Stéphanos), meaning "crown". Early Slavs did not use the voice /f/, so the Greek Stephanos was adapted into Stjepan (Стјепан) and Stipan (Стипан) in modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, Šćepan (Шћепан) in modern-day Montenegro, and Stevan (Стеван) and Stepan (Степан) in modern-day Serbia. The name has had hundreds of variants in Serbo-Croatian, most of which are hypocoristics that can now only be deduced from surnames. The Serbian Orthodox Church, however, retained the original pronunciation (minus the suffix -os) in its liturgy, leading to the form Stefan () being used to refer to the (mostly canonized) Serbian kings. The Swiss Slavist Robert Zett noted that the usage of Stefan indicated social hierarchy, being an honorific rather than a regnal name: while Uroš I ( 1243–76) used Stefan, his son was christened Stepan. Uroš IV Dušan (r. 1331–55) signed as Stefan but humbly used Stepan in a prayer book. Some Serbian kings minted coins with St. Stephen called Stefan on the obverse and themselves called Stepan on the reverse. History The name Stephen enjoyed great popularity among medieval South Slavic rulers. With the Christianization of South Slavs, Christian names begin to appear in rulers; in the generation after Serbian ruler Mutimir (r. 850–891), Stephen and Peter are found. Several members of the Trpimirović kings of Croatia had the name, such as Stephen Držislav (r. 969–997), Stephen I (r. 1030–58) and Stephen II (r. 1089–91). It was also adopted as a second name upon accession, a Christian name in addition to the Slavic ("folk") name, as was the case with Stephen Držislav, and several Serbian rulers, Stefan Vojislav (r. 1018–43), and the brothers Miroslav, Stracimir and Nemanja. Several bans of Bosnia also held it: Stephen Vojislavljević (), Stephen Kulinić (r. 1204–32) and the Kotromanić bans Stephen I (r. 1287–99) and Stephen II (r. 1322–53). The royal tradition of using the name Stefan as an honorific added to the original Slavic name began with the Serbian grand prince Nemanja (r. 1166–96). His son Stephen (r. 1196–1228) had himself crowned king,