Evlyn
Feminine
Evelyn has been a woman's name, then a surname, then a man's name, then a woman's name again. It started as Aveline, a Norman woman's name; families took it as a surname; the surname was given to sons; and then, in the twentieth century, it went back to daughters. Four crossings, one word.
How old is the name Evlyn?
Evlyn first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Evlyn alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 300 people named Evlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Evlyn most popular?
Evlyn peaked in 1912, reaching #1143 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 10,789 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aveline to Evlyn
The story of Evlyn
The round trip is the interesting part. Aveline was ordinary in Norman England; enough women carried it for families to be identified by it, which is how a given name becomes a surname; the surname went on quite happily for centuries; and then English families started giving surnames to sons, which put Evelyn on boys. A seventeenth-century diarist of that surname is the reason many people met it. By the twentieth century the traffic had reversed again. The most cited example is a novelist who married a woman with the same name and whose friends called them He-Evelyn and She-Evelyn, which tells you exactly how unsettled it was in the 1920s.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Through the surname Evelyn from the Norman woman's name Aveline, a diminutive of Ava, whose own root is not settled — a Germanic element of disputed meaning is the usual proposal. So the name has a documented route and an undocumented origin, which is a common combination for Norman names.
How the name formed
- Aveline
- Evelyn
- Evlyn
Related forms: Aveline
Pronouncing Evlyn
EV-lin
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the middle vowel gone — which is what this spelling records. Evelyn is written with three and said with two by most American speakers. In Britain the men's version is often EEV-lin.
Nicknames for Evlyn
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 191936 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1143reached in 1912
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%7 in 2025, from 7
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.
Evlyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aveline in French — related form
Evlyns among us
people named Evlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Evlyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Evlyn
- #11932
- Evlyn on the 2025 chart
- #946
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Evlyn went to 7 girls in 2025, but Evlynn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 14, which makes it the 946th most-given girls’ name of the year — 10,986 places above the chart.
- Evlyn7
- Evlynn7
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Evlyn 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
Fashion outlook
Evlyn 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
Evlyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Evlyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three short forms of very different registers, all of which are full names.
- This spelling records how the name is actually said, which the standard one does not.
- It serves either child, and has done in every century it has been used.
- Evelyn is overwhelmingly the standard spelling and the missing e will be restored by everyone.
- The name has no established meaning, only a well-documented journey.
- It is strongly represented among the very oldest generations and reads clearly as of their time.
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Evlyn
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Evlyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Evlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Evlyn?
- Evlyn is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 14 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Evlynn.
- How popular is the name Evlyn in 2025?
- Evlyn ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Evlyn?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Evlyn — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Evlyn with classmates?
- Evlyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Evlyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Evlyn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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