Kevin
Masculine · “gentle”
Kevin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,184,507 boys against 5,337 girls since 1880. See Kevin as a girl name
Kevin was the first Irish name America took in real numbers, and it opened the door for everything after it — Ryan, Sean, Brendan, Erin, Casey. Behind it is caomh, the Irish word for gentle or kind, with the affectionate ending -in: the gentle little one, which is an unusual thing for a men's name to say.
How old is the name Kevin?
Kevin first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Kevin alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 1,053,000 people named Kevin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kevin most popular?
Kevin peaked in 1963, reaching #11 nationally. Today it ranks #221, 210 places below that high. See the whole 1963 chart.
Where it comes from
From Caoimhín to Kevin
The story of Kevin
Kevin of Glendalough founded a monastery in a valley in Wicklow in the sixth century and is one of Ireland's principal saints; the stories about him involve a great deal of standing still in cold water and a blackbird nesting in his outstretched hand. The name stayed inside Ireland for a very long time and crossed to America with Irish emigration, becoming widely used in the middle of the last century — the first Gaelic name to do so on that scale, and the reason the rest followed.
Meaning
gentle; kindly
Irish caomh means gentle, kind or beloved, and Caoimhin adds the diminutive -in, giving something like the gentle one. The derivation is well attested. It is worth noticing what the name does not say: most early medieval men's names across Europe are about battle, spears, rule or wolves, and a name meaning gentle stands out sharply against that background.
Cultural footprint
Kevin Hart (b. 1979) — One of comedy's biggest box-office stars
Kevin Costner (b. 1955) — Dances with Wolves Oscar winner
Kevin Durant (b. 1988) — One of the NBA's greatest scorers
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Caoimhín
- Kevin
Related forms: Caoimhín · Kévin · Cefin
Pronouncing Kevin
KEV-in
KEV-in, two syllables, stress at the front. Irish Caoimhin is closer to KWEE-veen or KEE-veen depending on the dialect, with the mh sounded as a v — so the English name is a considerable simplification of the original rather than a spelling of it.
Nicknames for Kevin
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 196330,613 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #11reached in 1963
- Change vs 2023
- −15.2%1,628 in 2025, from 1,920
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.
Kevin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caoimhín in Irish — same name
- Kévin in French — same name
- Cefin in Welsh — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kevins among us
people named Kevin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,049 born in 2025 was named Kevin
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 Willie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kevin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Willie climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Willie's path sketches the road Kevin is walking now.
Kevin has held the top-100 across 7 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 Kevin is headed
Kevin 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.
Kevin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kevin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is gentle, which almost no other men's name of its age can say.
- Kev is a clean short form that works in any English-speaking country.
- The saint behind it is a real and well-documented figure with a place still attached to him.
- It is said the same way everywhere and has essentially one spelling.
- A very great many people carry it, so a Kevin will rarely be the only one in a room over a lifetime.
- In France and Germany the name arrived later and carries class associations it does not carry here, which matters if the family moves.
- It is strongly associated with one American generation and dates a person fairly closely.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Kevin will be read as a boy on every form.
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What they receive
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Kevin
Masculine · #221 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kevins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,053,000 people named Kevin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kevin in 2025?
- Kevin ranks #221 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,628 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kevin?
- About 1 in every 1,049 US boys born in 2025 was named Kevin — 1,628 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kevin with classmates?
- Kevin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kevin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Griffin#222 · Tyler#219 · Oscar#223 · Joel#219 · Rafael#218 · Edward#224 · Cohen#225 · Baker#217
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kevin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kevin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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