The AFL was once rife with Steves, Stephens and Stevens. But no more – with the shock retirement of Steven May at Melbourne before the season began, there’s only one left – Greater Western Sydney’s Stephen Coniglio. It’s the end of a long downward trend since the early 1990s, when more than 25 Steves took to the field.
From Steves to Jacks: The Name Cycle
Just as with all baby names (even for babies that go on to other professions), AFL names seem to be cyclical. The most common name in the AFL in 2026 is Jack, followed by Tom, Sam and Lachlan. There are almost 30 Jacks in the league this year, but for a couple of decades starting in the 80s, there were only a handful.
A Dynastic Shift
We can also somewhat see this reflected in a prominent AFL dynasty. Hall of famer Stephen Silvagni played from the 1980s through early 00s, during peak Steve. His son, Jack Silvagni, was part of a boom in Jacks over the past decade.
Other Names Fading Out
Mark, Peter, David and Darren are some of the other names that were popular in the 1980s and 90s and are relatively sparse nowadays. But will Scott Pendlebury be the swansong for Scotts?
Notes: Names of AFL players taken from AFL Tables and does not include players who did not play a game during the season. Some commonly shortened names were normalised and combined (Josh and Joshua, for instance) for analysis, but this was not possible for all names.
