Evelyn
Feminine
Evelyn is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 639,756 girls against 1,906 boys since 1880. See Evelyn as a boy name
Evelyn began as a surname, and before that as Aveline, a name Norman families carried to England after the Conquest. It has been spoken aloud for so long that its short forms — Evie, Eve — feel as settled as the full name, and it belongs comfortably to both older generations and this year's kindergartens.
How old is the name Evelyn?
Evelyn was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Evelyn alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 321,000 people named Evelyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Evelyn most popular?
Evelyn peaked in 2024, reaching #8 nationally. Today it ranks #8, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2024 chart.
Evelyn appears on these lists:
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Greatest Generation names (born 1901–1927)
- Silent Generation names (born 1928–1945)
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Ava to Evelyn
The story of Evelyn
The Normans brought Aveline to England in the eleventh century, where it stayed in use through the Middle Ages and then hardened into a family surname. Surnames were fashionable as first names among English gentry from the seventeenth century onward, and Evelyn came back into circulation that way — used for sons as well as daughters in Britain, since a surname carries no gender of its own. In the United States it settled almost entirely on girls, and has been recorded here since the earliest years of national birth statistics. It also charts today in Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The trail is clear until its very last step, and then it stops. Evelyn comes from the English surname Evelyn, which comes from the medieval feminine name Aveline, a Norman French pet form of the Germanic name Ava. What the Germanic element avi- actually meant is not established. Later readers have tied Evelyn to Latin avis, 'bird', or to Eve, 'life', by sound rather than descent; neither is the real line.
Cultural footprint
Evelyn Beatrice Hall (b. 1868) — Coined "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Evelyn Glennie (b. 1965) — Grammy-winning percussionist who has been profoundly deaf since age 12
Evelyn Ashford (b. 1957) — Sprinter with four Olympic gold medals
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Ava
- Aveline
- EvelynEnglish surname
- Evelyn
Related forms: Aveline · Evelyne · Evelina · Eveline · Ewelina · Evelina
Pronouncing Evelyn
EV-uh-lin
EV-uh-lin is standard in the United States. In Britain you will also hear EEV-lin, in two syllables, especially from older speakers and in the surname. Both are correct for the same spelling, so it is worth deciding which one your family uses.
Nicknames for Evelyn
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 192114,278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #8reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- −2.2%9,123 in 2025, from 9,332
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.
Evelyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aveline in French — related form
- Evelyne in French — spelling variant
- Evelina in Italian — related form
- Eveline in Dutch — related form
- Ewelina in Polish — related form
- Evelina in Swedish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Evelyns among us
people named Evelyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 176 born in 2025 was named Evelyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Evelyn
- #8
- Evelyn on the 2025 chart
- #11
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Evelyn went to 9,123 girls in 2025, but Evelynn and Evelin are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 10,229, which makes it the 11th most-given girls’ name of the year.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 157 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 176 for Evelyn 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 Sharon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Evelyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sharon climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sharon's path sketches the road Evelyn is walking now.
Evelyn has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Evelyn is headed
Evelyn 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.
Evelyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Evelyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short forms already in real use — Evie, Eve, Lynn — so a child has options without anyone inventing them.
- A spelling most English speakers write correctly on the first try, despite the unstressed middle syllable.
- Recorded continuously since national birth statistics began, and current in classrooms now: familiar to every generation alive.
- Charts in Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland, and has close cousins in French, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Swedish.
- It is one of the most-used girls' names in the English-speaking world right now, so a shared name in the same class or friend group is a real possibility.
- Two pronunciations circulate — EV-uh-lin and EEV-lin — and the second is common enough in Britain that she may occasionally be asked which she prefers.
- Evelyn sits close to Evie, Eve, Ava, Eva and Evelina in sound, several of which are also popular; expect the odd mix-up.
- In Britain the surname-derived name was long given to boys as well, which can surprise an older reader now and then, though US usage is settled.
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What they receive
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Evelyn
Feminine · #8 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Evelyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 321,000 people named Evelyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Evelyn?
- Evelyn is the most-used spelling in US records — 9,123 of the 10,229 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Evelynn and Evelin.
- How popular is the name Evelyn in 2025?
- Evelyn ranks #8 among US girl names in 2025, with 9,123 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Evelyn?
- About 1 in every 176 US girls born in 2025 was named Evelyn — 9,123 in all.
- Will my child share the name Evelyn with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 7 classrooms will have a child named Evelyn.
Ranked beside Evelyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Isabella#7 · Sofia#9 · Eliana#10 · Mia#6 · Ava#11 · Sophia#5 · Amelia#4 · Eleanor#12
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Evelyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Evelyn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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