boy's name
Gavin
GAV-in
- Origin Scottish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 216,544
the United States
#303
2025 births
Gavin is a boy's name from the Arthurian Gawain, whose meaning has never been established. It peaked in 2007 — the joint-latest peak in this group — and ranks 303rd in the United States.
- Gavin is a name of Scottish origin.
- Peaked in 2007, when 11,889 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,947 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1913.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Gavin over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 49 |
| 1920s | 124 |
| 1930s | 113 |
| 1940s | 177 |
| 1950s | 504 |
| 1960s | 1,571 |
| 1970s | 2,670 |
| 1980s | 5,399 |
| 1990s | 17,324 |
| 2000s | 88,670 |
| 2010s | 62,423 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 10,641 |
What Gavin means
Gavin has no securely known meaning. White hawk is the usual answer, from a proposed Welsh compound, but the Arthurian original is not confidently derived and the reading may be reconstruction.
Where Gavin comes from
Gavin is a Scottish form of Gawain, the Arthurian knight, and the name's origin is genuinely unresolved. The common gloss white hawk takes it as the Welsh gwalch, a hawk, joined to an element read as white or hay — but the Welsh form Gwalchmai is not securely the same name, and the Latin and French versions of the romances give forms that do not obviously connect. Gawain is Arthur's nephew and the hero of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the finest poems in Middle English, in which he accepts a beheading game and spends a year waiting to keep his side of the bargain.
Gavin in use
Gavin peaked in the United States in 2007, when 11,889 babies were registered, sharing the group's latest peak with Miguel. It now ranks 303rd in the United States on 1,125 births, 370th in Ireland on 11 and 951st in England and Wales on 33, across 216,544 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it only from 1913, so its entire measured life is modern despite the medieval source.
How popular is Gavin?
In 2025, Gavin was given to 1,125 babies in the United States, ranking #303 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Gavin is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Gavin
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Gavin also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Gavin over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Gavin in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Gavin
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Gavin — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Gavin
What does the name Gavin mean?
Not securely known. White hawk is the usual answer but the Arthurian original is not confidently derived.
Is Gavin the same as Gawain?
Gavin is the Scottish form of the Arthurian name.
Who was Sir Gawain?
Arthur's nephew, and the hero of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — one of the finest poems in Middle English.
How popular is Gavin?
303rd in the United States, down from a 2007 peak of 11,889 births.
Is Gavin a girl's or a boy's name?
Gavin is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Gavin?
Gavin has 2 syllables.
Is Gavin a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Gavin currently ranks #172 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.