Lavin
A variant of Levin meaning "associated with the Levites or priests".
Name Census estimates that about 165 living Americans carry the first name Lavin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Lavin today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavin births was 2023 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lavin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
165
~ 1 in 2,077,299 Americans
Peak year
2023
19 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2023 SSA rank
#6,739
Tracked since 1956
Census
Lavin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 263 people with the first name Lavin, which placed it at #32,158 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#32,158
National first-name rank
People counted
263
263 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavin is White at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.8%) and Black (15.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lavin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lavin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.7% · 128
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.8% · 52
- Black or African American15.6% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 19
- Two or more races5.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.4% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Lavin
Lavin leans heavily male at 84.4% of total registrations, but 26 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lavin as a male name
- Ranked #6,739 in 2023
- 13 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2022 (15 births)
Lavin as a female name
- Ranked #10,690 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavin on both sides of the split. Of the 267 people counted with this name, 178 were male (66.7%) and 89 were female (33.3%).
Popularity
Lavin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavin from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 86 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lavin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lavin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lavin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavin
The name Lavin is believed to have its origins in the Latin language, deriving from the word "lavare," which means "to wash" or "to bathe." This connection suggests that the name may have initially been associated with individuals involved in professions related to bathing or water-related activities.
In the early centuries of the Christian era, the name Lavin was relatively uncommon, but it gained some prominence during the Middle Ages in parts of Europe. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in a 9th-century manuscript from the Benedictine monastery of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland, where a monk named Lavin is mentioned.
During the medieval period, the name Lavin was occasionally bestowed upon individuals born near bodies of water or those who worked in trades involving water, such as millers or tanners. However, its usage remained relatively limited and largely confined to certain regions of Europe.
In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Lavin was Lavin Tornielli, an Italian philosopher and theologian born in Milan in 1525. Tornielli authored several works on metaphysics and moral philosophy, contributing to the intellectual discourse of his time.
Another prominent individual with the name Lavin was Lavin de Beaumont, a French nobleman and military commander who lived during the 17th century. De Beaumont played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War, serving as a general in the army of Louis XIII.
Moving into the 19th century, Lavin Naudé was a South African author and poet born in 1856. Naudé's works celebrated the natural beauty of his homeland and explored themes of identity and cultural heritage. His collection of poems, "Songs of the Veld," published in 1887, received critical acclaim.
In the 20th century, Lavin Dimitrov was a prominent Bulgarian artist and sculptor born in 1904. Dimitrov's works were heavily influenced by the avant-garde movements of the time and often incorporated abstract and cubist elements. His sculptures and installations can be found in various museums and public spaces across Bulgaria.
Finally, Lavin Kasparov was a Russian chess grandmaster born in 1963. Known for his aggressive and unorthodox playing style, Kasparov achieved numerous tournament victories and held the world chess championship title from 1985 to 2000, solidifying his place as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
People
Lavin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lavin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 165 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,077,299 US residents.
Is Lavin a common name?
We classify Lavin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 167 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavin most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavin was 2023, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavin is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 263 people with the name Lavin, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,158 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lavin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lavin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavin on both sides of the split. Of the 267 people counted with this name, 178 were male (66.7%) and 89 were female (33.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lavin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavin is White at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.8%) and Black (15.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lavin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lavin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.7% (128 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lavin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavin a male name?
Yes, 84.4% of people registered as Lavin in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lavin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lavin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Lavin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.