Name of the Week: Evelyn

Origin:

Evelyn is a later form of the early medieval name Avelina, a diminutive form of the Old Germanic name Avila. The spelling Evelyn was particularly established as a surname. Avila itself derives from the Old Germanic name Ava, the origins of which are very mysterious.  It is generally thought that Ava is the feminine form of Germanic Avi or Avo, which could either be connected to the Germanic tribe of the Aviones or from the Old Germanic alfi "elf." This developed into the diminutive forms Avila and the double suffixed Aveline (Ava + el + in). This unknown element of av, aw was also used as the first element in dithematic feminine names such as Avagisa, Avuldis and Avigerna.* Another possibility is that Ava developed as a variant of Eve, a Hebrew name meaning "life". The two names have been conflated constantly over the centuries and, certainly, the surname Eveling is considered to be derived either from diminutives of Eve (Eve + el + in) or as a form of Aveline, depending on which source you choose. For example, The Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames lists an example of the given name Evelune (1218) as a variant of Eve and Avelyn (1379) as a variant of Aveline. Both look like they could easily be sources for the surname Evelyn.  Avelina and Evelyn are often further confused with avellana, the Latin name for the hazel tree. In modern French, aveline means "hazelnut."

Usage:

Aveline, the Old French form of Avelina, was brought over to Britain by the Normans who had already been using it for centuries. One notable early bearer was Avelina Duceline de Crépon, the sister of Gunnor, wife of Richard I of Normandy (932-996). The name was not very popular in Britain overall, but it was used regularly across the Middle Ages. Records include instances of Avelina, Avelin, Avelyna and Avelyn in the Curia Regis Rolls of 1189, 1200, 1273 and 1430, and the Norfolk Poll Tax of 1379. It was certainly used enough times to create the surname Aveline, Aveling and, in some cases, Evelyn. Variants of Eve were also in use in the Middle Ages and diminutive forms such as Evelune (from the 1218 Pipe Rolls in Leicestershire) and Evelot (in the 1305 Assize Rolls of Wiltshire) suggest a further source for the surname Evelyn. George Redmonds puts Eve at #37 in his top 50 national totals for women living in 1377-81 in England. He classifies this as "infrequent" in use.  By the 16th century, Avelina was very uncommon, only used sporadically in areas such as Berkshire, Kent and Norfolk; Ava was all-but-extinct and Eve was also in rare usage. Evelina was rekindled a little with the publication of Frances Burney's novel Evelina in 1778. Burney no doubt based her choice for the name Evelina on her first manuscript, The History of Caroline Evelyn, which she had earlier destroyed, by having her fictional Evelina as the daughter of said Caroline Evelyn. The novel was a huge success, and with that came a rise in popularity for the name Evelina.  By the 17th century, Evelyn, however, had become established as a masculine name (particularly amongst the aristocracy) thanks to the adoption of the surname Evelyn. Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (1655-1726) was a key member of the House of Lords and a "prominent figure in the fashionable society of his day"*. He was given his name because Evelyn was his mother's surname. Interestingly, the Duke named one of his daughters Lady Evelyn Pierrepont (died 1727), but it was his grandson, General Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (1711-1773), who inherited the title.  Sir Evelyn Alston, 5th Baronet (1692–1750) also received his name because it was his mother's maiden name. His son, the 6th Baronet, was also named Evelyn.  It is important to note that, during this period, Evelyn as both a surname and a given name was pronounced EEV-lin.  This pronunciation of "EEV-lin" continued to be used among the upper classes (especially for boys) into the 20th century, even as EV-ə-lin had become established again for girls amongst the working classes. Famous examples of men to use the EEV-lin pronunciation include athlete Evelyn Aubrey Montague (1900–1948) and author Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) who both came from well-heeled families.  Waugh's first wife was also named Evelyn [The Hon. Evelyn Gardner (1903-1994), an aristocrat and socialite]. They were known as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn" to their friends, so we can presume that she was also EEV-lin. Purely anecdotally, I can relate a family story told to me by my grandmother. Her female cousin (born between 1910-1920) was named Evelyn which the family pronounced EV-ə-lin. When she was older, this cousin announced that she wanted her name to be pronounced EEV-lin as it sounded "more upper-class." Though all were in modest use, in 1840 Evelina was the most common form of the name for girls, followed by Eveline and then Evelyn. Eveline moved into the top 100 first by 1880, and it is this use of Eveline which seems to be one of the reasons why Evelyn became re-adopted for girls in the 19th century, rising swiftly over the course of the century.  Records from the England and Wales Birth Index:   Evelyn Eveline Evelina 1840: 1850:  1860:  1870:  1880:  1890: 1900: 1904: 1914: 1924: 1934: 1944: 1954: 1964: 1974: 1984: 1994: >#300 #204 #148 #107 #97 #82 #46 #31 #28 #34 #45 #71 __ __ __ __ __ >#300 #259 #171 #113 #80 #63 #79 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ #270 #226 #204 #205 #193 >#250 >#250 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ When I compiled the rankings for birth index records pre-1904, Evelyn proved a bit complicated, as the birth index does not list gender. The image below from FreeBMD shows all the entries for Evelyn in Jan-Mar 1850. The use of middle names shows that four are clearly female and two are obviously male. The remaining four entries could be either gender, so in most cases, I had to check against census records.  What we do know for certain is that Evelyn ranked at #31 for girls in 1904 in the Office for National Statistics data. Evelyn was still used for boys at this time, but examples were much less common.  Official data from Scotland puts Evelyn at #84 in 1900.  By 1954, Evelyn had dropped out of top 100 in England and Wales. However, it was #36 in Scotland in 1950 and had only dropped below by the 1970s indicating that it was later to catch on in Scotland, and later to fall out of favour.  Like many Edwardian favourites (Florence, Elsie, Ivy etc), Evelyn has enjoyed a 100-year rule revival in recent years.  From 1996 to 2000, Evelyn was very consistent in use, ranking #371 with 87 births in 2000.  In 1999, Hollywood revamped the classic The Mummy franchise followed by a sequel in 2001. Rachel Weisz played the principal character Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan, giving a young face to the name. The character was actually based on real-life Lady Evelyn Beauchamp (1901-1980), the daughter of Lord Carnarvon who was present at the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb.  Interestingly, Evelyn doubled in birth count from 87 births in 2000 to 161 births in 2001 (#246). This was the beginning of Evelyn's inevitable rise and return to favour, but perhaps shows that The Mummy films help to kick-start the process.  In England and Wales, Evelyn returned to the top 100 in 2008 at #89 (660 births) and continued to rise ever since. In 2018, Evelyn ranked #19 with 1902 births.  In Scotland, Evelyn doesn't fit the criteria for a 100-year-rule rival (as it was still common in the 1950s), however, since 2012 it has seen a marked rise. It re-entered the Scottish top 200 in 2014 and by 2018 was #109 with 44 births.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (1655-1726), British politician. * General Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (1711-1773), British peer.  * Evelyn Stuart (1773–1842), British soldier and Tory politician. * Evelyn Pierrepont (1775–1801), British (male) Member of Parliament. * Evelyn John Shirley (1788–1856), British politician. * Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington (1800–1873), British statesman. * Evelyn Philip Shirley (1812–1882), British politician, antiquary and genealogist. * Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth (1819–1889), British horse breeder. * Evelyn Ashley (1836–1907), British (male) barrister and Liberal politician. * Evelyn Wood (1838–1919), British Field marshal and Victoria Cross recipient. * Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer (1841–1917), Consul-General of Egypt from 1883 to 1907. * Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh (1843–1906), English (male) classical scholar. * Evelyn Whitaker (1844–1929), English (female) children's writer. * Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919), English Pre-Raphaelite (female) painter. * Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland (1855–1908), American (female) journalist, author and playwright. * Evelyn Everett-Green (1856–1932), English (female) novelist. * Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1868–1956), English writer and biographer of Voltaire. * Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1870–1960), Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary from 1910-1916. * Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874–1954), American sculptor elected as a full member of the National Academy of Design. * Evelyn Vida Baxter (1879-1959), Scottish ornithologist. * Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset (1882–1954), British peer and army officer. * (Lucy) Evelyn Cheesman (1882–1969), British entomologist and traveller. * Evelyn Barker (1894–1983), British Army officer in World War I and II * Evelyn Preer (1896–1932), African-American actress and blues singer. * Evelyn Booth (1897–1988), Irish (female) botanist. * Evelyn Wells (1899–1984), American (female) biographer. * Evelyn M. Anderson (1899–1985), American (female) physiologist and biochemist. * Evelyn Laye (1900–1996), British theatre actress. * Evelyn Brent (1901–1975), American film and stage actress. * Evelyn Dove (1902–1987), British singer and actress. * Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), English satirical novelist. * Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale (1903–1973), Governor of Kenya from 1952 to 1959. * G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1903–1991), British (male) ecologist. * Evelyn King (1907–1994), British (male) member of Parliament. * Evelyn Holt (1908–2001), German film actress. * Evelyn Bryan Johnson (1909–2012), American (female) pilot with a world record number of flying hours. * Evelyn Ankers (1918–1985), American actress. * Evelyn Berezin (1925–2018), American (female) computer designer best known for designing the first computer-driven word processor. Contemporary: * Evelyn Lear (1926–2012), American soprano and opera singer. * Evelyn de Rothschild (born 1931), British (male) financier. * Evelyn Hart (born 1956), Canadian ballerina. * Evelyn Ashford (born 1957), American female sprinter, gold medalist of the women's 100 meters running during the 1984 Summer Olympics. * Evelyn Lau (born 1971), Chinese-Canadian poet and novelist. * Evelyn García (born 1982), Salvadorian cyclist. * Evelyn Sharma (born 1986), German-Indian actress and model. Literature and Other Media: * Evelyn Carnahan/O'Connell, a character The Mummy franchise, portrayed by Rachel Weisz. * Evelyn Robin, the wife of Christopher Robin in Disney's "Christopher Robin". * Th Hon. Evelyn Napier, a character from Downton Abbey, portrayed by Brendan Patricks. * Evelyn Cross Mulwray, a character played by Faye Dunaway in the noir film, Chinatown. * Evelyn Tremble, a character played by Peter Sellers in the James Bond satire Casino Royale.

Variants:

Evelina, Eveline

Pronunciation:

EV-ə-lin; EEV-lin [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Eve, Evie, Evvy, Ellie

Sibling Names:

Charlotte     Alice     Florence     Amelia     Phoebe     Clara       Oscar     Arthur     Oliver     George     Sebastian     Edward

Name Lists:

N/A

 

If you like Evelyn you may also like:   Esme, Isabella, Matilda, Emilia, Imogen, Eleanor, Penelope, Violet, Annabelle, Harriet

Thanks to Magda for requesting this name.