Devaughn
Masculine
Devaughn joins the American De- prefix to Vaughn, the Welsh word for small — a combination made in the United States, with one half that has a documented history in Wales and another that has a documented history in the birth records of the 1970s and 1980s.
How old is the name Devaughn?
Devaughn first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Devaughn alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,500 people named Devaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Devaughn most popular?
Devaughn peaked in 1993, reaching #924 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 4,284 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Where it comes from
From bychan to Devaughn
Our story of Devaughn
The prefix names are a genuine American grammar, and the interesting thing about Devaughn is which word it chose. Vaughn was already an established American surname-name, carried by the singer Vaughn Monroe and by families of Welsh descent, and it had the two things the system likes: a single stressed syllable and an ending that takes a prefix cleanly. So it went into the machine along with Shawn, Andre, Marcus and Juan, and came out as Devaughn in the 1970s, peaking in the early 1990s. The Welsh half is real and old; the joining is American and recent. Both halves are worth knowing, and the honest account keeps them separate rather than pretending the whole thing came from Wales.
Meaningscholars disagree
The Vaughn element means small or little
Vaughn comes from Welsh bychan, small, in its mutated form fychan, used after a personal name to distinguish a younger man from an older one of the same name — the Welsh equivalent of junior. That reading is settled for Vaughn. De- is the productive American prefix seen in Deshawn, Demarcus and Deandre, and no source establishes a meaning for it. The compound has no translatable sense of its own.
How the name formed
- bychan
- Vaughan
- Vaughn
- Devaughn
Related forms: Fychan · Vaughan
Pronouncing Devaughn
duh-VAWN
Two syllables, stress on the second. The gh is entirely silent, as it is in Vaughn. Some families say DEE-vawn with the weight at the front.
Nicknames for Devaughn
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
- 1926
- Most boys named
- 1993135 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #924reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −21.7%18 in 2025, from 23
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.
Devaughn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fychan in Welsh — related form
- Vaughan in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, Michigan, Ohio.
Devaughns among us
people named Devaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Devaughn
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 Kem test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Devaughn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kem climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kem's path sketches the road Devaughn is walking now.
Devaughn 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
Devaughn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Devaughn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Dev and Vaughn are both strong, ready-made short forms.
- Half the name has a settled and documented Welsh meaning.
- It is easy to say once the silent gh is known.
- The gh is silent and will be mispronounced and misspelled by strangers.
- Devon, Devaughn, Devon and Devaun are all in use and get confused.
- The De- pattern is dated to the last third of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Devaughn
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Devaughns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Devaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Devaughn in 2025?
- Devaughn ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Devaughn?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Devaughn — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Devaughn with classmates?
- Devaughn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Devaughn
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 Devaughn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Devaughn and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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