Stefan (honorific)

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Stephanos, "crowned with wreath", a Greek name, was adopted by all the Nemanjići rulers of Serbia.

The name Stefan is derived from Greek Stephanos, meaning "crowned with wreath (stephos)". All Serbian rulers after Stefan Prvovenčani ("the First-Crowned") added the name Stefan (Stephen) before their birth names after ascending the throne as a manner of honoring the earlier rulers of their dynasty Stefan Nemanja and Stefan Prvovenčani.

Stefan Nemanja, who venerated Saint Stephen as his patron saint, was a descendant of the Vojislavljevići, rulers of Zahumlje. The House of the Nemanjići was named after him and produced eleven Serbian monarchs between 1166 and 1371, each of them using Stefan as part of their regnal name. The House is therefore also known as Stephanid dynasty.

As all subsequent monarchs of the house used the name, assumed symbolic significance. It became inseparable from the monarchy, and all claimants denoted their royal pretension by adopting the same name.

Some rulers reigned with double names: Stefan Nemanja, Stefan Radoslav, Stefan Vladislav, and Stefan Uroš. While Prvovenčani and Dečanski are epithets, not names, the exact nature of Dragutin and Milutin—names or nicknames—is unclear.

However, unlike the names Nemanja, Radoslav, Vladislav, Uroš, and even Dušan, they never appear in the official contemporary sources. Therefore Prvovenčani and Dragutin are most accurately to be simply numbered, since Stefan was their only official name.

In 1345, Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia assumed the imperial title Tsar.