Gavan
Masculine
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight survives in one manuscript. Three other poems are bound with it, all anonymous, all in the same north-west midlands dialect, and the book spent the eighteenth century in a library that caught fire in 1731. It was scorched. Had it burned, we would have none of them.
How old is the name Gavan?
Gavan first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Gavan alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,000 people named Gavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gavan most popular?
Gavan peaked in 2003, reaching #1578 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,430 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gwalchmai to Gavan
The story of Gavan
The Cotton library fire destroyed or damaged a great deal, including the only manuscript of Beowulf, which survived scorched at the edges and is now handled with extreme care. The Gawain manuscript was in the same collection. Its four poems — Gawain, Pearl, Cleanness and Patience — are by one poet whose name is unknown, writing in a dialect that was already provincial when he wrote, in an alliterative style that London literature had abandoned. Gawain itself is a Christmas story, a beheading game, and an argument about whether a man can be as good as his reputation. The name went to Scotland as Gavin and became ordinary there long before it was anywhere else.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Gawain's origin is disputed. Welsh Gwalchmai, usually read as hawk of May, is the standard proposal and the connection to the French Gauvain is not secure. Gavin is the Scottish form and Gavan an American spelling of it. No reading has been established.
How the name formed
- Gwalchmai
- Gauvain
- Gavin
- Gavan
Related forms: Gwalchmai · Gauvain
Pronouncing Gavan
GAV-un
Two syllables, stress on the first. Gavin, Gavan and Gaven are said identically; the second vowel is reduced and carries no information.
Nicknames for Gavan
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 200380 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1578reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%5 in 2025, from 5
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.
Gavan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gwalchmai in Welsh — related form
- Gauvain in French — same name
Gavans among us
people named Gavan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Gavan
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 Dallis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gavan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dallis climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dallis's path sketches the road Gavan is walking now.
Gavan 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
Gavan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gavan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the great poems in English stands behind it, and it can be read in translation.
- Two syllables that everyone reads correctly on sight.
- Gav works as a short form and needs no explaining.
- Gavin is far commoner and this spelling will be corrected toward it.
- There is no established meaning, which matters if the meaning is why you chose it.
- It is close to Gavan, Gaven and Gavyn, all of which are recorded.
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What they receive
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Gavan
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gavans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Gavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gavan in 2025?
- Gavan ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gavan?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Gavan — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gavan with classmates?
- Gavan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gavan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gavan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gavan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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