Kevin

How to say it

/ˈkɛv.ɪn/

What it means

Anglicized Irish Caoimhín, from caomh ('handsome, beloved, gentle') + a diminutive suffix. Saint Kevin of Glendalough (d. 618) was an Irish hermit-monk whose monastery in County Wicklow became one of medieval Ireland's important religious centers.

Kevin is the anglicization of the Irish Caoimhín, from caomh ('handsome, beloved, gentle'). Saint Kevin of Glendalough (d. 618) was a 6th- and 7th-century Irish hermit who founded the monastery at Glendalough in County Wicklow, which became one of medieval Ireland's most important religious centers. The English Kevin was largely confined to Ireland until the 20th century, then surged in the US in the 1950s after Hollywood film star Kevin McCarthy and later Kevin Costner. Home Alone's Kevin McCallister (1990) gave it Gen-X anchor. It peaked in the US in the 1990s and is sliding now but still solidly in the top 200.

Heads-up notes

• Pop culture

  Home Alone (1990) is the dominant Gen-X anchor; Saint Kevin of Glendalough is the older Irish religious reference.

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

• Saint Kevin of Glendalough Irish hermit and founder of the monastery at Glendalough, d. 618
• Kevin Costner American actor, Dances with Wolves and Yellowstone
• Kevin Bacon American actor, the 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' game

Spelling variants

• Caoimhín
• Kevyn

Names with the same feeling

• Ryan Little king
• Liam Resolute protector
• Owen Young warrior, or 'well-born'
• Patrick Nobleman, patrician
• Connor Lover of hounds

See Kevin from another angle