Lavon
French name derived from the river Avon, meaning "from the river".
Name Census estimates that about 6,009 living Americans carry the first name Lavon. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Lavon today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavon births was 1934 (201 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavon. 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.
Key insights
- • Lavon was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Lavon sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 57,040 Americans
Peak year
1934
201 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,354
Tracked since 1896
Census
Lavon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,530 people with the first name Lavon, which placed it at #3,674 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
#3,674
National first-name rank
People counted
5.5K
5,530 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavon is White at 51.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.6%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Lavon 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 Lavon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.4% · 2,844
- Black or African American40.6% · 2,247
- Two or more races3.8% · 208
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 145
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 24
Gender
Gender distribution for Lavon
Lavon is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 11,309 total registrations, 5,067 (44.8%) were male and 6,242 (55.2%) were female.
Lavon as a male name
- Ranked #3,354 in 2024
- 35 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (85 births)
Lavon as a female name
- Ranked #18,368 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1924 (152 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavon on both sides of the split. Of the 5,526 people counted with this name, 2,740 were male (49.6%) and 2,786 were female (50.4%).
Popularity
Lavon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavon from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 1,718 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lavon 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 Lavon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lavons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Iowa, Indiana, California recorded the most babies named Lavon, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 126 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavon
The given name Lavon has its origins in the French language, derived from the Latin word "lavo," which means "to wash" or "to bathe." This name gained prominence during the Middle Ages, particularly in the regions of modern-day France and surrounding areas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lavon can be traced back to the 12th century, when it appeared in various historical documents and chronicles. It was a relatively common name among the nobility and upper classes of the time.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lavon gained further popularity across Europe. Several notable individuals bore this name, including Lavon de Montfort (1250-1317), a French nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Albigensian Crusade.
In the 16th century, Lavon Delaunay (1520-1598) was a prominent French painter and architect known for his contributions to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. His works are celebrated as exemplars of the French Renaissance architectural style.
As the name spread across Europe, it also found its way into literary works. One notable example is the character of Lavon in the epic poem "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser, published in 1590.
In the 17th century, Lavon Vauban (1633-1707), a French military engineer and marshal, gained widespread recognition for his contributions to the design and construction of fortifications across France during the reign of Louis XIV.
Another notable figure with the name Lavon was the French philosopher and writer Lavon Descartes (1596-1650), known for his influential works on metaphysics, epistemology, and mathematics, including the famous quote, "I think, therefore I am."
These are just a few examples of individuals who bore the name Lavon throughout history, demonstrating its enduring presence and significance across various fields and contexts.
People
Lavon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavon 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
Lavon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,009 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavon 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 57,040 US residents.
Is Lavon a common name?
We classify Lavon as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,309 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavon most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavon was 1934, when 201 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavon is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,530 people with the name Lavon, or 1.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,674 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 Lavon 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 Lavon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lavon on both sides of the split. Of the 5,526 people counted with this name, 2,740 were male (49.6%) and 2,786 were female (50.4%). 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 Lavon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavon is White at 51.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.6%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Lavon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lavon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.4% (2,844 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 Lavon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavon a female name?
Yes, 55.2% of people registered as Lavon in the SSA data are female. 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 Lavon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavon 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 Lavon 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 people share the name Lavon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.