Gaven
Masculine
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight survives in one manuscript, and that manuscript nearly burned in 1731. The same volume holds Pearl, and the same library fire damaged the only copy of Beowulf.
How old is the name Gaven?
Gaven first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Gaven alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 3,800 people named Gaven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gaven most popular?
Gaven peaked in 2003, reaching #686 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,009 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gwalchmai to Gaven
The story of Gaven
The Cotton library, assembled in the seventeenth century, held a large part of what survives of Old and Middle English literature in single copies. In October 1731 the house where it was stored caught fire, and books were thrown out of windows to save them; the Beowulf manuscript was scorched at the edges and has been crumbling ever since, and the manuscript containing Gawain, Pearl, Patience and Cleanness came through in better condition. Nobody knows who wrote them. The Gawain poet was working in a north-west Midlands dialect in the late fourteenth century, at the same time as Chaucer and in a completely different tradition, using alliteration rather than rhyme, and his name, his patron and his other work are all unrecorded. The name Gawain itself has never been satisfactorily explained either.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Gavin is the Scottish form of Gawain, the Arthurian knight. The name's origin is disputed: a derivation from Welsh Gwalchmai, generally read as hawk of May, is the usual proposal and is not secure. Gaven is an American respelling; its peak is 2003.
How the name formed
- Gwalchmai
- Gawain
- Gavin
- Gaven
Related forms: Gavin · Gwalchmai · Gauvain
Pronouncing Gaven
GAV-in
Two syllables, stress on the first. Gavin and Gaven are homophones; the final vowel is a schwa in both.
Nicknames for Gaven
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
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 2003282 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #686reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%6 in 2025, from 9
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.
Gaven in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gavin in English — spelling variant
- Gwalchmai in Welsh — related form
- Gauvain in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Gavens among us
people named Gaven are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Gaven
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 Yancy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gaven's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Yancy climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Yancy's path sketches the road Gaven is walking now.
Gaven 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
Gaven beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gaven in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Gav is a short, established, easy clip.
- The Arthurian figure behind it is one of the oldest in the cycle.
- Two syllables with a firm opening.
- Gavin is the standard spelling by a wide margin.
- The name's derivation is genuinely unsettled.
- The 2003 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Gaven
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gavens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Gaven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gaven in 2025?
- Gaven ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gaven?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Gaven — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gaven with classmates?
- Gaven will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gaven
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dashon#10695 · Jabbar#10695 · Tamer#10695 · Leondre#10695 · Keola#10695 · Marquese#10695 · Traven#10695 · Shaheed#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gaven? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gaven and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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