Stephen Curry's Real Name: Wardell Stephen Curry II

Quick answer: Stephen Curry's full name is Wardell Stephen Curry II. He was born on March 14, 1988, in Akron, Ohio, and is widely known as Steph or Stephen Curry—using his middle name in public billing while Wardell is the given first name shared with his father, Dell Curry.

Real name and early life

Britannica gives the form “in full Wardell Stephen Curry II, byname Steph”; the Library of Congress lists fuller name Wardell Stephen with variant Curry, Wardell Stephen, II (Britannica; LOC; Snopes fact check). He was born March 14, 1988, in Akron, Ohio, son of longtime NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry (Wardell Stephen Curry) and grew up around professional basketball. Underrated as a recruit because of size, he starred at Davidson College, leading a famous 2008 NCAA Tournament run to the Elite Eight and earning consensus All-America honors before entering the 2009 NBA draft.

Career highlights

The Golden State Warriors selected Curry seventh overall in 2009. He remade NBA offense with deep range, leading the league repeatedly in threes and winning MVP awards in 2015 and 2016 (the latter unanimous). He led Golden State to NBA titles in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022—earning Finals MVP in 2022—and to the historic 73–9 regular-season mark in 2015–16. In December 2021 he became the NBA’s all-time three-point leader. He won FIBA world gold with Team USA in 2010 and 2014 and Olympic gold at Paris 2024. He married Ayesha Curry in 2011. Publicly he remains Stephen/Steph Curry; the documented legal full name is Wardell Stephen Curry II.

Name notes for searchers

Wardell is the first name; Stephen is the middle name used as the everyday given name, following his father Dell. Prefer Britannica and LOC over viral posts. Wikipedia is a pointer after those primaries.