Meanings
plural Gavins
- A male given name from the Celtic languages.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday banning the sale at grocery checkouts of all plastic bags, regardless of thickness. The only option for customers who lack their own reusable shopping bags will be buying paper bags for 10 cents each.
2024 September 23, Soumya Karlamangla, “California Bans All Plastic Bags After Its First Effort Backfired”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 Oct 20241 more example
New Zealand registration officials apparently blocked other questionable names in the past, including Fish and Chips and Sex Fruit, but allowed others, such as Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence. […] I’m fine with the Gavins and the Masons and the Chloes, but the Poppy Honeys and the Banjos and the Sex Fruits simply have to go.
2009 April 25, “Meet Number 16 Bus Shelter”, in Austin Daily Herald, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025 - A surname originating as a patronymic.
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 加文
- 加文 (Jiāwén)male given name
French Gauvain
- Gauvainmale given name
Italian Galvano
- Galvanomale given name
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Gavin
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
Gavin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gavin
“Gavin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gavin. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gavin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gavin.
Source: Gavin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.