Meaning & History
Evelyn is a given name with a complex gender journey, originating as an English surname derived from the medieval girl's name Aveline, a Norman diminutive of the Germanic name Ava. When first adopted as a given name in the 17th century, it was used predominantly for boys, with the earliest recorded bearer being Evelyn Pierrepont (d. 1726), grandson of the parliamentarian Sir John Evelyn. The name gradually shifted toward female usage, influenced by its phonetic resemblance to Eve and Evelina. By the mid-19th century, census data shows females named Evelyn outnumbering males.
In the United States, the release of the Muppet character Miss Piggy in 1976 popularized the exclamation “Moi? Evelyn spelled with a 'y' is also classic and refined—it returned to the top ten in 2017, after a century of fluctuations. The name saw a resurgence in the early 21st century across the English-speaking world.