Tavaris
Masculine
Tavaris is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,520 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Tavares is a real Portuguese surname, carried by a Cape Verdean-American family who had five hit records in the second half of the 1970s. Tavaris is that surname respelled as a first name, and its American curve starts almost exactly where the group's did.
How old is the name Tavaris?
Tavaris first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Tavaris alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 2,400 people named Tavaris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tavaris most popular?
Tavaris peaked in 1984, reaching #993 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 5,453 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
From Tavares to Tavaris
The story of Tavaris
Tavares is common across Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde, and it reached the United States with Cape Verdean migration to New England, which is one of the oldest and least-discussed African-descended communities in the country. The five Tavares brothers of Providence, Rhode Island recorded through the 1970s and were widely heard on American radio between 1975 and 1980. The name enters United States given-name records in that window and peaks in 1984, and the spellings that follow, Tavaris, Tavares, Tavarus and Tavaras, are the usual sign of a name learned by ear rather than read.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Portuguese surname Tavares is generally traced to a place name in Portugal, and its own sense is not securely recovered; readings connecting it to a word for a plateau or to a personal name are both offered without proof. This spelling is an American respelling of the surname, and the -is ending is an English substitution that carries no meaning.
How the name formed
- Tavares
- Tavaris
Related forms: Tavares · Tavarus
Pronouncing Tavaris
tuh-VAIR-iss
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Portuguese says tuh-VAH-rish, with the final s as a sh sound, which is one of the clearest markers of European Portuguese.
Nicknames for Tavaris
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 1995109 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #993reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- −18.8%13 in 2025, from 16
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.
Tavaris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tavares in Portuguese — related form
- Tavarus in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Tavariss among us
people named Tavaris are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Tavaris
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 Norma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tavaris's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Norma climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Norma's path sketches the road Tavaris is walking now.
Tavaris 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
Tavaris beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tavaris in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Portuguese surname with real families behind it.
- Tav is a short, distinctive and completely usable everyday form.
- Three syllables with the weight in the middle, which is an uncommon rhythm for a boy's name.
- Tavares is the correct spelling of the surname and will be written instead.
- Tavaris, Tavarus and Tavaras all circulate and split the records.
- It reads as a name of the 1980s in American ears.
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What they receive
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Tavaris
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tavariss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Tavaris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tavaris in 2025?
- Tavaris ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tavaris?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Tavaris — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tavaris with classmates?
- Tavaris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tavaris
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tavaris? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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