Stevens Name

Stevens, Stephens, Stevenson

In Ireland a family called Stephens may be of various origins. If not of comparatively recent immigration from England, as a number of those in Leinster and Ulster are, they could be of Norman stock, descendants of some FitsStephen, a name much in evidence in mediaeval Munster and Ormond records; or they might be true Gaels of the small sept of MacGilstefan (Mac Giolla Stiofáin), which Woulfe says belongs to Leix.... It is probable that any survivors of this sept in Connacht are now called Stephens.  It is in the north Connacht the name Stephens is chiefly found today, apart from the metropolitan area of Dublin.  MacStephen is of frequent occurrence in sixteenth and seventeenth century Connacht records such as the Composition Book of Connacht.

MacLysaght, Edward. More Irish Families. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1996. Page 196.