Avon
Masculine · “river”
Avon is given to both — 1,641 boys and 700 girls since 1880. See Avon as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Avon is a river name that went onto American certificates for sons and daughters both, and it is one of the plainest words in Britain: it is simply the old Brittonic noun for a river. The town that shares it owes its entire modern existence to a festival that was a disaster.
How old is the name Avon?
Avon first appears in US birth records in 1893 — 132 years ago. The typical Avon alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 900 people named Avon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Avon most popular?
Avon peaked in 1893, reaching #907 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 4,301 places below that high. See the whole 1893 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From abona to Avon
The story of Avon
Stratford was an unremarkable market town until an actor decided to hold a jubilee there in the seventeen-sixties, more than a century and a half after Shakespeare's death. David Garrick organized three days of processions, fireworks, a masquerade and an ode composed and recited by himself, in a temporary rotunda built by the river. It rained continuously. The river rose and flooded the rotunda; the fireworks would not light; the procession of characters was canceled; the horse race was run in a swamp. Not one line of any play was performed. Garrick lost a great deal of money and was mercilessly satirized. And yet it worked: the jubilee established the town as a place of pilgrimage, the birthplace was bought for the nation within a century, and the entire modern industry — theater, trust, tourism — descends from three wet days that staged none of the work.
Meaning
river
The word is the Brittonic noun for a river, taken by English speakers as a proper name because that is what they were told when they asked. Several rivers in Britain carry it independently. Whether a given American family meant the river, a surname or a place is not recorded.
How the name formed
- abona
- Avon
Pronouncing Avon
AY-von
Two syllables with the stress at the front in American English. The English rivers are said with a short first vowel, closer to AV-on, which is a noticeably different name.
Nicknames for Avon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1893
- Most boys named
- 192132 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #907reached in 1893
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%18 in 2025, from 18
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Avon in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Avons among us
people named Avon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Avon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Avon 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Avon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Avon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, no silent ones, and no realistic way to misspell it after hearing it.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- It names a real and very old thing, with a documented and simple meaning.
- A cosmetics company has owned the word commercially for over a century.
- The first vowel is said two different ways on the two sides of the Atlantic.
- The record holds it for daughters as well, so it signals nothing about sex.
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Avon
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Avons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Avon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Avon in 2025?
- Avon ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Avon?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Avon — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Avon with classmates?
- Avon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Avon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Avon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Avon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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