Head to head · Boys' names
Angelo vs Gavin
#304 vs #303 in 2025
Gavin is a whisker ahead (#303 vs #304 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Gavin is stepping back from its peak, Angelo is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Angelo has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Gavin leads 4 measures of 6; Angelo leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Angelo #654, Gavin — — Angelo higher
- 1890s: Angelo #511, Gavin — — Angelo higher
- 1900s: Angelo #294, Gavin — — Angelo higher
- 1910s: Angelo #159, Gavin #2450 — Angelo higher
- 1920s: Angelo #165, Gavin #2427 — Angelo higher
- 1930s: Angelo #238, Gavin #2330 — Angelo higher
- 1940s: Angelo #320, Gavin #1848 — Angelo higher
- 1950s: Angelo #306, Gavin #1097 — Angelo higher
- 1960s: Angelo #299, Gavin #621 — Angelo higher
- 1970s: Angelo #329, Gavin #496 — Angelo higher
- 1980s: Angelo #326, Gavin #358 — Angelo higher
- 1990s: Angelo #327, Gavin #220 — Gavin higher
- 2000s: Angelo #275, Gavin #51 — Gavin higher
- 2010s: Angelo #313, Gavin #71 — Gavin higher
- 2020s: Angelo #306, Gavin #219 — Gavin higher
Angelo stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Gavin has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Angelo | Gavin |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #654 | — |
| 1890s | #511 | — |
| 1900s | #294 | — |
| 1910s | #159 | #2450 |
| 1920s | #165 | #2427 |
| 1930s | #238 | #2330 |
| 1940s | #320 | #1848 |
| 1950s | #306 | #1097 |
| 1960s | #299 | #621 |
| 1970s | #329 | #496 |
| 1980s | #326 | #358 |
| 1990s | #327 | #220 |
| 2000s | #275 | #51 |
| 2010s | #313 | #71 |
| 2020s | #306 | #219 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Angelo
Messenger
The Greek word means a messenger, and it was an ordinary word for one before it was applied to the beings that carry messages from God. The wings, the ranks and the iconography are all later additions to a plain noun.
Angelos → Angelus → Angelo
How it traveled
Around the sixth century somebody writing under a borrowed name produced a treatise sorting angels into nine orders in three groups — seraphim, cherubim and thrones; dominions, virtues and powers; principalities, archangels and angels — and the scheme was taken up completely. Dante uses it, Aquinas argues from it, medieval art assumes it, and it is the source of nearly everything a modern reader thinks they know about angelic hierarchy.
Gavin
most often read as "hawk of May"
The usual derivation traces Gawain to the Welsh name Gwalchmai, understood as gwalch "hawk" plus Mai "May" — hence "hawk of May." Scholars have also proposed Gwalchgwyn, "white hawk," and some argue the medieval French Gauvain came from a different source entirely and was only later matched up with the Welsh name. The hawk element is the steadiest part of the picture; the rest is genuinely open.
Gwalchmai → Gauvain → Gawain → Gavin
How it traveled
The knight appears in Welsh tradition as Gwalchmai, in the Latin and French romances as Walwanus and Gauvain, and in Middle English as Gawain — the hero of the late fourteenth-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Scotland took the French form and wore it down to Gavin, which was in ordinary use there for centuries as a plain given name rather than a literary flourish.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Angelo
AN-jeh-loh
Three syllables, stress at the front. Italian says AHN-jeh-lo with a fuller final vowel.
- Angie — The front softened, which in America reads as a woman's name.
- Gelo — The back of the name, the usual Italian shortening.
Gavin
GAV-in
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the short a of "have." Some Scottish and Irish speakers give the second syllable a fuller vowel, closer to GAV-een, but GAV-in is the standard American reading and almost nobody gets it wrong on sight.
- Gav — The standard informal short form, especially common in Scotland, England and Australia; rarely used as a name on its own.
- Gavvy — A family-and-childhood diminutive, mostly heard from parents and older relatives.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Angelo if you want…
- a name on the way upup 10 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAngelo runs 3 syllables, Gavin 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 79% for Gavin
Choose Gavin if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsGavin is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesGavin is 2 syllables to Angelo's 3
- a name that feels very nowGavin is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Angelo
Strengths
- The meaning is settled, short and entirely positive.
- It is understood across Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece without translation.
- It has been in continuous use for a very long time without becoming a cliché.
To consider
- In America the short form reads as a woman's name.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes here, though the boys hold nearly all of it.
- It is strongly marked as Italian, which is either the point or a consideration.
Gavin
Strengths
- One dominant spelling that English speakers read correctly at first glance, and a pronunciation with no regional traps in American use.
- A documented line back through medieval French and Welsh literature, with the Arthurian connection still recognizable to readers.
- Cognate forms exist across French, Italian, Dutch and Welsh, so the name is not stranded in English.
To consider
- It rose fast and is now stepping back, which means most Gavins in the US are clustered around one stretch of years. For a while the name may read as belonging to young adults rather than to babies — though that gap closes as any name settles.
- Gavyn, Gaven and Gavan all circulate, so expect the occasional spelling check even though your version is the standard one.
- It sits close to Gavriel, Gabriel and the surname Galvin in casual speech, and a mumbled introduction can land on the wrong one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Angelo
40%chance Angelo feels dated by 2040
Angelo sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Gavin
79%chance Gavin feels dated by 2040
Gavin is coming down from a big peak (#30 in 2008). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Angelo and Gavin in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Angelo and Gavin?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Angelo and Gavin — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Angelo or Gavin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Angelo or Gavin?
- Gavin, in 2025: Gavin ranked #303 with 1,125 babies; Angelo ranked #304 with 1,124 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Angelo or Gavin?
- Angelo. Over the last five years Angelo moved up 10 places; Gavin moved down 161 places.
- Which is the older name, Angelo or Gavin?
- Angelo entered the US charts in 1881; Gavin entered the US charts in 1913. On the American record, Angelo is the older name.
- How many people are named Angelo and Gavin?
- About 60,000 people named Angelo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 186,000 people named Gavin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Angelos or Gavins in the classroom?
- Angelo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Gavin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Angelo, Gavin and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap