Welcome to the English language. Often letters don't sound how they look, and often they are pronounced differently in different words. Just to be awkward, some people are called Steven. English must be very hard to learn because of this.

In many European languages, consonant shifts occurred. This means one letter begins to sound like another. For instance P from its Latin roots changed to the American F. Padre (Spanish), Pater (Latin), Vater (German pronounced like English fater or foughter), and father (English) are all the same word, but some show a consonant shift. Some words reach English with a shift and some words (sometimes even the same word) will reach English without a shift. A good example is the Latin word "pater". It reached English as "father". It also reached English in the word "patriarch". English has stolen words from many other languages, especially French. Often they keep their native spellings. The English language is now filled with spelling mishaps. Examples: Hour (h is silent) is the same pronunciation as our Bologna is pronounced ba-loan-knee Knight is pronounced like night "Black Dutch" are a group of people of German descent. (German word for German is Deutsch which was mistaken for Dutch)

One recurring character in Alice Cooper's songs is a boy named "Steven." Just thought you all would like to know. . .

Same name, two different spellings.

The names "Stephen" and "Steven" come from the same root - the Greek name "Stefanos". It's also the root of Estefan, Stefan, Étienne, Isftan - meaning "crown or garland". The original spelling reflects the pronunciation, but due to English spelling the "ph" has come in, as in "phone". It's just something that has to be learned, but both names are pronounced the same.