Devan
Masculine
Devan is given to both — 13,639 boys and 5,161 girls since 1880. See Devan as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Devan sits where three names have merged. Devon is an English county; Devin is an Irish surname; Devan is either, and in American records the three have been swapping spellings for decades. The Irish one has the bleakest etymology of the group — a word about misfortune, which is an unusual thing for a family to be called.
How old is the name Devan?
Devan first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Devan alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 13,000 people named Devan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Devan most popular?
Devan peaked in 1994, reaching #367 nationally. Today it ranks #2516, 2,149 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Devan
Names that sound alike and arrive at the same time tend to merge, and that is what has happened here: an English county, an Irish surname and a set of American respellings have produced a single sound with three spellings and no agreement about which belongs to which origin. What distinguishes Devan from the other two is that it is the least anchored — Devon is clearly the county and Devin is clearly the surname, and Devan could be either, which in practice means it is chosen for its sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Irish surname O Damhain is generally read as descendant of Damhan, a personal name connected to damh, a stag or an ox; a competing account connects Devin to a word about misfortune or ill luck, which would be an unusual but not unheard-of byname. The English county Devon takes its name from the Dumnonii, a Celtic people, and its meaning is separately unsettled. Three roads, three open questions.
Pronouncing Devan
DEV-un
DEV-un, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. Devon, Devin and Devan are said identically in American English; the final vowel is unstressed and all three letters are the same sound there.
Nicknames for Devan
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
- 1924
- Most boys named
- 1994646 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #367reached in 1994
- Change vs 2023
- +6.0%53 in 2025, from 50
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.
Devan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Damháin in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Devans among us
people named Devan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,228 born in 2025 was named Devan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kareem test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Devan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kareem climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kareem's path sketches the road Devan is walking now.
Devan 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 Devan is headed
Devan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Devan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Devan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Dev is a clean short form that suits either child.
- It has both an English county and an Irish family behind it, which gives a family a choice.
- Two syllables, entirely unambiguous in sound.
- Three spellings compete and none is standard, so the name is dictated every time.
- The Irish etymology is disputed and one reading of it is distinctly gloomy.
- It is recorded for girls as well, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
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What they receive
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Devan
Masculine · #2516 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Devans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Devan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Devan in 2025?
- Devan ranks #2516 among US boy names in 2025, with 53 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Devan?
- About 1 in every 32,228 US boys born in 2025 was named Devan — 53 in all.
- Will my child share the name Devan with classmates?
- Devan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Devan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Tahir#2516 · Rye#2516 · Neymar#2516 · Alphonse#2516 · Austen#2516 · Saleem#2516 · Stuart#2516 · Jariel#2516
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Devan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Devan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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