Pavan
Masculine · “Sanskrit pavana”
Hanuman is the son of the wind. Pavana is a name of Vayu, the wind god, and Hanuman is called Pavanputra, which is why he can leap across the sea to Lanka and carry a mountain back. The name explains the mythology.
How old is the name Pavan?
Pavan first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Pavan alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 500 people named Pavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pavan most popular?
Pavan peaked in 2002, reaching #2882 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 6,832 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From pavana to Pavan
The story of Pavan
Vayu, the wind, is one of the oldest gods of the Rigveda and is called Pavana, the purifier, because moving air was understood to cleanse. Hanuman is his son, and the descent does real work in the Ramayana: he can fly, expand and contract his body, and cross the sea to Lanka in a single leap, and when asked to bring a healing herb he brings the entire mountain because he cannot identify the plant. Bhima, one of the five Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata, is also a son of Vayu, which makes him the strongest of them and Hanuman his brother. The wind-descent explains in both cases what the character can do. The purifying sense survives in the ordinary Hindi word pavan for air, and in the association between wind and breath, prana, which is the same idea in the yogic tradition.
Meaning
Sanskrit pavana, wind or purifier
Pavan is from Sanskrit pavana, meaning wind or air, and also purifying, from pu, to purify, since wind was understood as what cleanses. It is a name of Vayu, the Vedic wind god. The unrelated European dance called the pavane is a separate word of disputed origin. The American peak is 2002.
How the name formed
- pavana
- Pavan
Related forms: Pavan · Pavana · Pavan
Pronouncing Pavan
PUH-vun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hindi says both vowels short and clear. English speakers often say pah-VAHN with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Pavan
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
- 200232 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2882reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%7 in 2025, from 7
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.
Pavan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pavan in Hindi — same name
- Pavana in Sanskrit — same name
- Pavan in Telugu — same name
Pavans among us
people named Pavan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Pavan
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 Nolin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pavan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nolin climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nolin's path sketches the road Pavan is walking now.
Pavan 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
Pavan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pavan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, easy in English.
- The meaning is a single clear word with mythological depth.
- Pav works as a short form.
- The stress placement varies between speakers.
- It is close to Pawan and Pavana in spelling.
- A Renaissance dance shares a similar name.
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Pavan
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pavans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Pavan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pavan in 2025?
- Pavan ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pavan?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Pavan — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pavan with classmates?
- Pavan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pavan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pavan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pavan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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