name
Gavin
GA-vihn
name
1
A male first name with Celtic roots, popular across English-speaking countries.
2
A surname that began as a way of identifying someone as a relative of a person named Gavin.
How to Use Gavin
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA men's first name descended from the legendary knight Gawain's name.
Memory tip
Gavin and Gawain are historically the same name — Gavin is the modern, everyday version.
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Gavins plural
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Etymology
A medieval reshaping of Gawain, the Arthurian knight's name, which came into English from Old French Gauvain. The Scots kept the spelling "Gavin" alive, and it spread more widely from the 1960s onward.