Jarvis
Masculine · “spear servant”
Jarvis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 17,720 boys against 123 girls since 1880.
Jarvis is Gervase worn down by English speech, and the Germanic behind it is a spear — with a second element that no one has managed to identify.
How old is the name Jarvis?
Jarvis first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Jarvis alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 15,500 people named Jarvis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jarvis most popular?
Jarvis peaked in 1988, reaching #347 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 2,486 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ger to Jarvis
The story of Jarvis
Saint Gervase was an early Milanese martyr whose relics were discovered by Ambrose in 386, and the name spread through medieval France and England. English speech turned Gervase into Jarvis, which became a surname and then, in nineteenth-century America, a given name. It peaked around 1975.
Meaningscholars disagree
spear servant
Through Gervase, from the Germanic ger, 'spear', joined to a second element that is genuinely unrecovered — proposals include vass, 'servant', from a Celtic root. The first element is certain and the second is not, which is an unusually honest state for a name.
How the name formed
- ger
- Gervase
- Jarvis
Related forms: Gervais · Jervis · Gervasio
Pronouncing Jarvis
JAR-vis
Two syllables, stress on the first. Jarvis and Jervis are said identically.
Nicknames for Jarvis
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 1988600 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #347reached in 1988
- Change vs 2022
- −50.6%44 in 2025, from 89
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.
Jarvis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gervais in French — related form
- Jervis in English — spelling variant
- Gervasio in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, Georgia.
Jarviss among us
people named Jarvis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Jarvis
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 Vaughn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jarvis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vaughn climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vaughn's path sketches the road Jarvis is walking now.
Jarvis 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
Where Jarvis is headed
Jarvis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Jarvis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jarvis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spear element is transparent and among the best documented in Germanic naming.
- An early martyr and a documented medieval name stand behind it.
- Two firm syllables that carry well against any surname.
- The second element is genuinely unrecovered.
- A fictional artificial intelligence carries the name for many people now.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s in American records.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jarvis to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Jarvis? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jarvis
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jarviss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,500 people named Jarvis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jarvis in 2025?
- Jarvis ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jarvis?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Jarvis — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jarvis with classmates?
- Jarvis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jarvis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odysseus#2833 · Josef#2833 · Bayron#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Ward#2833 · Alain#2833 · Mahlon#2833 · Braiden#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jarvis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jarvis and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle