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", and " Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhôḥānān, which means " Yahweh 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" (meaning "good man"). The name is also sparingly given to women, as with actress Evan Rachel Wood. It may be encountered as a surname, of which Evans 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, Israeli Olympic wrestler * Evan Berry, 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, American composer * Evan Chambers, American musician * Evan Chandler, American screenwriter and dentist, known for accusing Michael Jackson of molesting his son * Evan Conti (born 1993), American-Israeli basketball player and coach * Evan Cooper, 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), British economist and journalist * Evan Dobelle, American educator * Evan Dunham, American mixed martial artist * Evan Edinger, American YouTuber * Evan Engram, American football player * Evan Eschmeyer, 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, American oceanographer * Evan Fong, Youtuber * Evan Fournier, 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, Major League Baseball 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, Canadian screenwriter, film producer and director * Evan Gray, former New Zealand cricketer * Evan Handler, American novelist and actor * Evan Harris, British politician * Evan Howell, American politician and soldier * Evan Jenkins, American politician * Evan Kaufmann, 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, American professional baseball player * Evan Lysacek, American figure skater * Evan McPherson (born 1999), American football player * Evan McKie, Canadian ballet dancer * Evan Meek, 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 (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, American academic administrator * Evan Roberts (minister), Welsh revivalist * Evan Roberts (sportscaster), 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, American professional football player * Evan Seinfeld, American pornographic actor * Evan Spiegel, 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, 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 * Evan James Williams, Welsh experimental physicist * Evan Rachel Wood, 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, 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 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'' 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 *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

*'' Evan Almighty'', 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 ...

''. *'' Dear Evan Hansen'', 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