Cavan
Masculine · “a hollow”
Cavan is an Irish county and the word behind it is a landscape: cabhán, a hollow or a rounded hill. It is also close enough to Kevin to be mistaken for a spelling of it, and it is not.
How old is the name Cavan?
Cavan first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Cavan alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,700 people named Cavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cavan most popular?
Cavan peaked in 2002, reaching #1772 nationally. Today it ranks #3450, 1,678 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cabhán to Cavan
The story of Cavan
An Cabhán is a real hollow in the drumlin country of south Ulster, and the town and county take their name from it. The surname and the place name both reached America with Irish emigration. Its use as a given name is recent and belongs with Cullen, Declan and Rowan, part of a broader American taste for Irish names; the confusion with Kevin has helped it along and obscured it at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
a hollow
The Irish county name An Cabhán means the hollow, and the town sits in one. The name is also used as a variant of Kevin, which is Irish Caoimhín, from a word meaning gentle or handsome, and the two are unrelated.
How the name formed
- cabhán
- Cavan
Related forms: An Cabhán · Kevin
Pronouncing Cavan
KAV-an
Two syllables, first stressed. Irish gives a slightly fuller second vowel.
Nicknames for Cavan
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
- 1969
- Most boys named
- 200877 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1772reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- +32.0%33 in 2025, from 25
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.
Cavan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- An Cabhán in Irish — same name
- Kevin in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania, California.
Cavans among us
people named Cavan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 51,760 born in 2025 was named Cavan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cavan
- #3450
- Cavan on the 2025 chart
- #888
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cavan went to 33 boys in 2025, but Kavan is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 40, which makes it the 888th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,562 places above the chart.
- Cavan33
- Kavan7
About 1 boy in 42,702 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,760 for Cavan itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Eliazar test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cavan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eliazar climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eliazar's path sketches the road Cavan is walking now.
Cavan 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
Where Cavan is headed
Cavan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cavan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cavan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled place-name meaning drawn from a real landscape.
- Van is a complete short form that stands on its own.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It is very close to Kevin and will be heard and written as it.
- Cavan, Cavin and Kavan are all in use and none is dominant.
- It names a county, which invites a question about family connection.
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What they receive
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Cavan
Masculine · #3450 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cavans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Cavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cavan?
- Cavan is the most-used spelling in US records — 33 of the 40 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kavan.
- How popular is the name Cavan in 2025?
- Cavan ranks #3450 among US boy names in 2025, with 33 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cavan?
- About 1 in every 51,760 US boys born in 2025 was named Cavan — 33 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cavan with classmates?
- Cavan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cavan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sabastian#3450 · Luc#3450 · Deshaun#3450 · Trayvon#3450 · Blade#3450 · Oz#3450 · Josiyah#3450 · Fausto#3450
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cavan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cavan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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