Tavish
Masculine · “twin”
Tavish is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 780 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Tavish is Thomas, run through Scottish Gaelic and back out again. The Gaelic Tamhas gave the surname MacTavish, son of Thomas, and English speakers took the middle of that surname and made it a first name. Under all of it sits an Aramaic word for a twin.
How old is the name Tavish?
Tavish first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Tavish alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 800 people named Tavish are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tavish most popular?
Tavish peaked in 1993, reaching #2209 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 2,498 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From te'oma to Tavish
The story of Tavish
Gaelic reshaped Thomas into Tamhas, said with a v sound in the middle, and Highland families built the patronymic MacTamhais from it, which English clerks wrote as MacTavish. That surname went out into the world with Scottish emigration and eventually gave its second half back as a given name, first in Scotland and then in Canada, Australia and the United States. So Tavish is Thomas twice removed: an Aramaic word inside a Greek spelling inside a Gaelic mouth inside an English surname.
Meaning
twin
Through Gaelic Tamhas from Thomas, which is the Greek spelling of the Aramaic te'oma, a twin. The Gospel of John says so directly when it introduces the apostle.
How the name formed
- te'oma
- Thomas
- Tamhas
- MacTavish
- Tavish
Related forms: Tàmhas · Thomas · Tomás · Tommaso · Tomás
Pronouncing Tavish
TAV-ish
Two syllables, stress in front, the a flat as in have. Nothing in it is silent and nothing is Gaelic-difficult.
Nicknames for Tavish
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
- 1982
- Most boys named
- 199335 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2209reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- +23.5%21 in 2025, from 17
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.
Tavish in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tàmhas in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Thomas in English — same name
- Tomás in Irish — same name
- Tommaso in Italian — same name
- Tomás in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Washington.
Tavishs among us
people named Tavish are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Tavish
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 Rody test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tavish's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rody climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rody's path sketches the road Tavish is walking now.
Tavish 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
Tavish beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tavish in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is Scottish without being unpronounceable, which is a narrow and useful gap to sit in.
- The line back to Thomas is documented and easy to explain.
- Tav works as a short form and has no competition from other names.
- It is rare enough in the United States that it will be asked about and asked again.
- Some readers hear Tavish as a surname first, because that is where most of them have met it.
- Its connection to Thomas is invisible unless someone explains it.
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What they receive
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Tavish
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tavishs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Tavish are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tavish in 2025?
- Tavish ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tavish?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Tavish — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tavish with classmates?
- Tavish will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tavish
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tavish? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tavish and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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