Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to " Ivan", "

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

", and " Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhôḥānān, which means "

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

is gracious". Evan is also the shortened version of the Greek names "

Evangelos Evangelos, Vangelis ( el, Ευάγγελος, or, in polytonic orthography, ; from "good" + "messenger, angel") is a common Greek male name. The diminutive derived from the name Evangelos, is usually Vangelis. The female equivalent is Evangelía ...

" (meaning "good messenger") and "

Evander Evander is a masculine given name. It is an anglicization of the Greek name Εὔανδρος (lit. "good man", Latinized ''Evandrus''). It has also been adopted as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Iomhar (the Gaelic variant of the name Ivor) ...

" (meaning "good man"). The name is also sparingly given to women, as with actress

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

. It may be encountered as a surname, of which

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

is the most common version. Other languages also assign meaning to Evan as a word or name. It is related to the Gaelic word "Eóghan" meaning "youth" or "young warrior", and means "right-handed" in Scots. he, אֶבֶן, even literally means "rock". The old English translation of the name "Evan" could also be interpreted as "Heir of the Earth" or "The King".

Popularity

The popularity of the name Evan for males in the United States had risen steadily in recent decades, going from the 440th-ranked male name in 1957 to peaking at the 35th-ranked male name in 2009. It has since declined, dropping out of the top 50 male names in the US by 2013 and out of the top 100 by 2020. It was never a popular name for girls, though its popularity as a girl's name increased slightly in the 1980s and '90s; it has also declined since then, just as it has among boys.

People

Given name

Evan Shelby Alexander Evan Shelby Alexander (October 28, 1809) was a slave owner, lawyer, legislator from the Salisbury District of North Carolina, and United States Democratic-Republican Party (United States), Democratic-Republican Party United States House of Repre ...

, American politician *

Evan Battey Evan Earl Battey (born September 27, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Rilski Sportist of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Colorado Buffaloes. He was named second-team All-Pac-12 as ...

(born 1998), American basketball player * Evan Bayh, American politician *

Evan Baylis Evan Luke Baylis (born November 18, 1993) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon and was originally signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He has also been a member of ...

, American football player *

Evan Bernstein ''For the American public figure and community leader, see Evan R. Bernstein.'' Evan Bernstein (אבן ברנשטיין; born April 16, 1960) is an Israeli-American former Olympic wrestler for Israel. Personal life Bernstein was born in the Un ...

, Israeli Olympic wrestler *

Evan Berry Evan Lawrence Berry (born November 4, 1995) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers football team. While primarily a safety, he was selected to All-America tea ...

, All-American football player *

Evan Brown (American football) Evan Brown (born September 16, 1996) is an American football center for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at SMU. Professional career New York Giants Brown signed with the New York Giants as ...

, American football player *

Evan Call Evan Call (born June 29, 1988) is an American composer and arranger working in Japan. He has composed music for multiple anime series such as ''Tokyo ESP'', ''Violet Evergarden'', and ''Appare-Ranman!''. Call is affiliated with the Japanese agen ...

, American composer *

Evan Chambers Evan Chambers (born 1963, in Alexandria, Louisiana) is a composer, traditional Irish fiddler, and Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan. He received a Doctorate in music composition from the University of Michigan. His teachers in ...

, American musician *

Evan Chandler In 1993, Evan Chandler, a dentist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles, accused the American singer Michael Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan Chandler. Jackson had befriended Jordan after renting a vehicle from Jordan's st ...

, American screenwriter and dentist, known for accusing

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

of molesting his son * Evan Conti (born 1993), American-Israeli basketball player and coach *

Evan Cooper Evan Cooper (born June 28, 1962) is a former American football player. He played college football as a defensive back at the University of Michigan from 1980 to 1983. He played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) as a Saf ...

, American football player * Evan Dando, American musician *

Evan Dara Evan Dara is an American novelist. He has published four novels and one play, which are concerned with subjects including social atomization, music, political dysfunction, epistemology, ecology, and time. The Times Literary Supplement (London) c ...

, American novelist *

Evan Davis (journalist) Evan Harold Davis (born 8 April 1962) is an English economist, journalist, and presenter for the BBC. He has presented ''Dragons' Den'' since 2005. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this p ...

, British economist and journalist *

Evan Dobelle Evan Samuel Dobelle (born April 22, 1945) is a former public official and higher-education administrator, is known for promoting higher-education investment in the Creative Economy, public-private partnerships and the "College Ready" model tha ...

, American educator * Evan Dunham, American mixed martial artist *

Evan Edinger Evan Edinger (born July 29, 1990) is an American-British YouTuber based in London, England. Edinger is known for his "British VS American" series, in which he compares topics such as exams, healthcare systems, and taxes with guest YouTubers fr ...

, American YouTuber *

Evan Engram Evan Michael Engram (born September 2, 1994) is an American football tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ole Miss and was drafted by the New York Giants with the 23rd pic ...

, American football player *

Evan Eschmeyer Evan Bruce Eschmeyer (born May 30, 1975) is an American retired professional basketball player who was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the second round (34th pick overall) of the 1999 NBA Draft. He spent six years on the Northwestern Univers ...

, former American professional basketball player *

Evan Evagora Evan Evagora is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as the Romulan Elnor on the television series '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2020present). Biography Early life Evagora was born in Melbourne, the youngest of seven children born to Ma ...

, Australian actor *

Evan Evans (film composer) Evan Edward Evans (born September 13, 1975 in Bergen County, New Jersey) is an American film score composer."Evan Evans" (2011) ''Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television'', Vol. 112, Detroit: Gale, Biography in Context He is the son of jazz p ...

, American film score composer *

Evan Forde Evan B. Forde is an American oceanographer at the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He was the first African-American scientist to perform research in a subme ...

, American oceanographer * Evan Fong, Youtuber *

Evan Fournier Evan Mehdi Fournier (; born 29 October 1992) is a French professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played junior basketball at the French INSEP academy from 2007 to 2009. Early life F ...

, French basketball player *

Evan G. Galbraith Evan "Van" Griffith Galbraith (July 2, 1928 – January 21, 2008) was the United States Ambassador to France from 1981 to 1985 under Ronald Reagan and the Secretary of Defense Representative to Europe and NATO under Donald Rumsfeld from 2002 to 2 ...

, former United States Ambassador to France *

Evan Gattis James Evan Gattis (born August 18, 1986) is an American former professional baseball designated hitter and catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. Gattis has also earned the nickname of "El Os ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player *

Evan Glodell Evan Glodell is an American feature film director, producer, writer, and actor, best known for directing the indie microbudget film '' Bellflower.'' Early life Glodell was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and briefly attended the University of Wisc ...

, American feature film director, producer, writer, and actor *

Evan Goldberg Evan D. Goldberg (born September 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American filmmaker and comedian. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on the films '' Superbad'', ''Pineapple Express'', ''This Is the End'', ''The Interview'', and ''Go ...

, Canadian screenwriter, film producer and director * Evan Gray, former New Zealand cricketer * Evan Handler, American novelist and actor *

Evan Harris Evan Leslie Harris (born 21 October 1965) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative ...

, British politician * Evan Howell, American politician and soldier * Evan Jenkins, American politician *

Evan Kaufmann Evan Kaufmann (born October 31, 1984) is a German-American former professional ice hockey forward who played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career Kaufmann, who is Jewish, was born in Plymouth, Minnesota and graduated from Robbin ...

, German-American ice hockey player * Evan Kim, American actor *

Evan King Evan King (born March 25, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. King has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 185, achieved in April 2018. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 113, achieved in February 202 ...

, American tennis player * Evan Leong, American film director *

Evan Longoria Evan Michael Longoria (born October 7, 1985), nicknamed "Longo", is an American professional baseball third baseman who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2008 through 2017, and the S ...

, American professional baseball player * Evan Lysacek, American figure skater * Evan McPherson (born 1999), American football player * Evan McKie, Canadian ballet dancer *

Evan Meek Evan David Meek (born May 12, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He is best known for giving up Derek Jeter's final hit at Yankee Stadium. He has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles in Major League Bas ...

, American baseball player *

Evan Narcisse Evan Narcisse is an American comic book writer, journalist, and video game narrative designer. Narcisse began his working career as a journalist who has reported on video games for several media outlets, such as ''The Atlantic'', ''The New York T ...

, American writer *

Evan Neal Evan Neal (born September 19, 2000) is an American football offensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama and was selected seventh overall by the Giants in the 2022 NFL Draf ...

(born 2000), American football player * Evan Peters, American actor *

Evan Price Evan David Lewis Price is a barrister at Ten Old Square chambers, Lincoln's Inn in London and a Conservative politician. Background Born and raised in Wales, Price attended Sandhurst and joined the Royal Regiment of Wales The Royal Regimen ...

, Welsh politician *

Evan Pugh Evan Pugh (February 29, 1828 – April 29, 1864) was the first president of the Pennsylvania State University, serving from 1859 until his death in 1864. An agricultural chemist, he was responsible for securing Penn State's designation in 1863 a ...

, American academic administrator *

Evan Roberts (minister) Evan John Roberts (8 June 1878 – 29 January 1951) was a Welsh evangelist and leading figure of the 1904–1905 Welsh revival. His obituary in '' The Western Mail'' summed up his career thus: :"He was a man who had experienced strange th ...

, Welsh revivalist *

Evan Roberts (sportscaster) Evan Roberts (born July 11, 1983) is an American sports radio personality. He currently co-hosts the ''Carton and Roberts'' radio show, along with Craig Carton, weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET on the New York radio stations WFAN-AM and WFAN- ...

, American radio personality *

Evan Roderick Evan Roderick Anderson (born 29 June 1995) is a Canadian actor and former ice hockey player. Life and career Roderick was born and raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He has an older brother, Stuart. Evan first became interested in per ...

, Canadian actor * Evan Rodriguez, American football player *

Evan Royster Evan Mathias Royster (born November 26, 1987) is a former American football running back. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He played college football at Penn State University, where he was a thr ...

, American professional football player * Evan Seinfeld, American pornographic actor *

Evan Spiegel Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990) is an American businessman, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. Spiegel was the youngest billionaire in the world in 2015. Early life and education Spiegel was born in Los Angeles, California, to lawyers Jo ...

, American founder of

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

Evan Stewart Evan Stewart may refer to: * Evan Stewart (diver) Evan Stewart (born June 11, 1975) is a former Olympic Games, Olympic diving (sport), diver for Zimbabwe. He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992 ...

, Zimbabwean Olympic diver * Evan Tanner, American mixed martial artist *

Evan Lorimer Thomas Evan Lorimer Thomas (21 February 1872 – 9 April 1953) was a Welsh clergyman and Professor of Welsh at St David's College, Lampeter (which later became the University of Wales, Lampeter) from 1903 to 1915. Life Thomas was the son of the a ...

, Welsh clergyman * Evan Thomas, American journalist and author * Evan Turner, American professional basketball player *

Evan Watkins Evan William Watkins (third ¼ 1882 – 9 January 1956) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, and cricketer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) ...

, Welsh rugby footballer *

Evan Weaver Evan Weaver (born August 11, 1998) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at California and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Early years Weaver was born a ...

, American football player *

Evan Weinstock Evan Weinstock (born October 30, 1991) is an American Olympic bobsledder. Early life Weinstock was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. His father, Arnold Weinstock, is Jewish. His mother was not. He told ''Jewish Sports Review'' that he was r ...

, American Olympic bobsledder *

Evan Williams Evan Williams may refer to: __NOTOC__ People In sport * Evan O. Williams (c. 1889–1946), American football and basketball coach * Evan Williams (footballer) (born 1943), Scottish football goalkeeper * Evan Williams (jockey) (1912–2001), horse ...

, American singer *

, American Internet entrepreneur, former CEO of

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Evan James Williams Evan James Williams FRS (8 June 1903 – 29 September 1945) was a Welsh experimental physicist who worked in a number of fields with some of the most notable physicists of his day, including Patrick Blackett, Lawrence Bragg, Ernest Rutherford a ...

, Welsh experimental physicist *

, American actress *

Evan Wright Evan Alan Wright (born ) is an American writer, known for his extensive reporting on subcultures for ''Rolling Stone'' and '' Vanity Fair''. He is best known for his book on the Iraq War, ''Generation Kill'' (2004). He also wrote an exposé abou ...

, American writer *

Evan Wallace Evan Sewell Wallace (November 1, 1982 – February 13, 2017) best known by his stage name E-Dubble, often stylized e-dubble, or shortened to e-dub, was an American rapper. He was best known for his Freestyle Friday series in which he released a ...

, American Rapper * Evan Yo, Taiwanese pop singer

Fictional characters

*Evan Barnett, businessman in the film ''

Little Rascals ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' *Evan "Buck" Buckley, a character in the TV series ''

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

'' *Evan Webber, main character in the 2005 film ''

Knock Knock Knock Knock may refer to: * Knock-knock joke, a type of joke Film and television * Knock Knock (1940 film), ''Knock Knock'' (1940 film), an animated short film noted for the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker * ''Knock Knock'' (2007 film), a ...

*Evan Baxter, in the 2007 film ''

Evan Almighty ''Evan Almighty'' is a 2007 American comedy film, and a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Bruce Almighty'' (2003). The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, based on the characters created by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe (sc ...

'' *Evan Chambers, in the 2007 TV series '' Greek'' *Evan Delaney, female writer and legal assistant in five novels by Meg Gardiner *Evan Drake, a character in the TV sitcom ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'' *Evan Hansen, the title character in the Broadway musical ''

Dear Evan Hansen ''Dear Evan Hansen'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a t ...

'' and its 2021 film adaptation. *Evan Hawkins, Paramedic Field Chief on '' Chicago Fire'' *Evan Lewis, a character from '' Final Destination 2'' *Evan Michael Tanner, government agent with permanent insomnia in eight novels by

Lawrence Block Lawrence Block (born June 24, 1938) is an American crime writer best known for two long-running New York-set series about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and the gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Block was named a Grand Mas ...

*Evan Treborn, in the 2004 film '' The Butterfly Effect'' *Evan Rosier, deceased Death Eater in the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' series

Surname

*Rev.

Cadwallader William Evan Cadwallader William Evan ( – 21 August 1876), generally referred to as Rev. C. W. Evan, was a Congregationalist minister in colonial South Australia, the first to serve at the Pilgrim Uniting Church, Stow Memorial Church, Flinders Street, Adela ...

(?–1876), first minister of Stow Church, Adelaide, South Australia **

Mostyn Evan Mostyn is a village and community in Flintshire, Wales, and electoral ward lying on the estuary of the River Dee, located near the town of Holywell. It has a privately owned port that has in the past had a colliery and ironworks and was invo ...

(1861–1924), Cadwallader William Evan's son. A South Australian lawyer and sports administrator

Popular culture references to the name Evan

*''

'', a 2007 film and standalone sequel to the 2003 film ''

Bruce Almighty ''Bruce Almighty'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. The film stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains to God ...

''. *''

'', an award-winning 2016 Broadway musical and its

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

References

{{reflist English given names Welsh masculine given names English-language unisex given names English masculine given names English feminine given names

Popularity

People

Given name

Fictional characters

Surname

Popular culture references to the name Evan

See also

References