Gavin

Where Gavin comes from

Medieval variant of Gawain, the name of an Arthurian knight, first recorded as Old French Gauvain. The form Gavin survived in Scotland and spread to other English-speaking countries in the 1960s. Doublet of Gawain.
— Wiktionary's entry for Gavin
  • Celtic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1913
    First appearance
    #2,821 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1967
    Gavin Newsom born
    40th governor of California since 2019
  3. 1970
    Gavin McInnes born
    Canadian far-right commentator
  4. 2008
    Peak, #30
    11,752 babies named Gavin — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2015
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #70.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Celtic languages.
Namesakes
  • Gavin Newsom · 40th governor of California since 2019, born 1967
  • Gavin McInnes · Canadian far-right commentator, born 1970
  • Gavin Hood · South African filmmaker, born 1963
  • Gavin Williamson · British Conservative party politician, born 1976
  • Gavin McCann · English footballer, born 1978

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.