Lavaughn
Feminine · “small”
Lavaughn is given to both — 962 girls and 936 boys since 1880. See Lavaughn as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Lavaughn is Welsh at the back and American at the front, and it is given to sons and daughters in roughly equal seriousness. The Welsh half means small. The American half means nothing at all, which is not a criticism — it was never meant to.
How old is the name Lavaughn?
Lavaughn first appears in US birth records in 1906 — 119 years ago. The typical Lavaughn alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Lavaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lavaughn most popular?
Lavaughn peaked in 1933, reaching #1311 nationally. See the whole 1933 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Welsh word for small distinguishes the younger of two men to Lavaughn
The story of Lavaughn
The Welsh element only exists as a surname because of a change in the law. Wales had no fixed surnames: a man was known as his father's son, and the name changed every generation, so that Dafydd son of Ieuan produced a son who was Rhys son of Dafydd. What identified a family instead were descriptive tags — the tall one, the red one, the small one — attached as needed. Tudor legislation in the sixteenth century pushed Welsh landholding and legal practice into the English system, and fixed surnames came with it, so the tags froze. The tag for the smaller or younger man froze into Vaughan. What was a temporary description for one generation became a permanent family name for all the ones after it, which is how a word for small ended up on the back of an American name given to children of both sexes.
Meaningscholars disagree
small, in the second element
Vaughn comes from a Welsh word meaning small or little, used to distinguish the younger of two men with the same name in a country where a great many men had the same name. The gh in the middle is an English attempt at a Welsh sound and does no work. The La- at the front is a prefix from a different tradition entirely, productive in American naming for most of the twentieth century and carrying no meaning of its own. So the name has one half that can be translated and one half that cannot, which is the ordinary condition of names built this way.
How the name formed
- A Welsh word for small distinguishes the younger of two men
- Tudor law replaces Welsh patronymics with fixed surnames
- The descriptive tag freezes into the surname Vaughan
- American parents attach the prefix La- to it
- Lavaughn is recorded for sons and daughters alike
Related forms: Fychan · Vaughan · Lavon
Pronouncing Lavaughn
luh-VAWN
Two syllables with the stress on the second. The gh is silent — it always was, in the surname as well — and the vowel is the one in lawn rather than the one in van.
Nicknames for Lavaughn
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
- 1906
- Most girls named
- 192335 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1311reached in 1933
- Change vs 1975
- +40.0%7 in 1977, 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.
Lavaughn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fychan in Welsh — related form
- Vaughan in English — related form
- Lavon in English — related form
Lavaughns among us
people named Lavaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lavaughn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A confident, second-syllable rhythm that carries well when spoken
- Works equally for a son or a daughter, with a short form that suits both
- Genuine Welsh material at the back of it, with a meaning that can be explained
- The gh is silent and will be dropped by people writing the name from hearing it.
- Because it is recorded for both sexes, no written list will reliably tell anyone which child is meant.
- The prefix places the name in a specific American period, which some ears will date immediately.
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Lavaughn
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lavaughns 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 Lavaughn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lavaughn in 2025?
- Lavaughn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lavaughn with classmates?
- Lavaughn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lavaughn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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