Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. In other languages it could be compared to " Ivan", " Ian", and "

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

"; 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 pos ...

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

. 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 *Eva ...

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

Evan Bayh Birch Evans Bayh III ( ; born December 26, 1955) is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and ...

, American politician * Evan Baylis, American football player * Evan Bernstein, Israeli Olympic wrestler * Evan Berry, All-American football player * Evan Brown (American football), 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 a ...

, American composer * Evan Chambers, American musician * Evan Chandler, 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 ...

of molesting his son *

Evan Conti Evan Paul Conti (born April 6, 1993) is the American-Israeli head coach of the New York Institute of Technology Division II NCAA men's basketball team. He played three years of professional basketball in Israel, for Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Hapoel Mig ...

(born 1993), American-Israeli basketball player and coach * Evan Cooper, American football player *

Evan Dando Evan Griffith Dando (born March 4, 1967) is an American musician and frontman of the Lemonheads. He has also embarked on a solo career and collaborated on songs with various artists. In December 2015 Dando was inducted into the Boston Music Awards ...

, American musician * Evan Dara, American novelist * Evan Davis (journalist), British economist and journalist * Evan Dobelle, American educator * Evan Dunham, American mixed martial artist * Evan Edinger, American

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influen ...

* Evan Engram, American football player * Evan Eschmeyer, former American professional basketball player * Evan Evagora, Australian actor * Evan Evans (film composer), American film score composer * Evan Forde, American oceanographer *

Evan Fong Evan Fong (born 31 May 1992), known online as VanossGaming (or simply Vanoss), is a Canadian internet personality, video game commentator, music producer, and DJ. He posts montage-style videos on YouTube of him and other creators playing variou ...

, Youtuber * Evan Fournier, French basketball player * Evan G. Galbraith, former United States Ambassador to France * Evan Gattis,

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, 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 '' ...

, Canadian screenwriter, film producer and director * Evan Gray, former New Zealand cricketer *

Evan Handler Evan Handler (born January 10, 1961) is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, a divorce attorney and later husband of Charlotte York on '' Sex and the City'' (2002–2004) and its revival series '' And Just Like That� ...

, 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 Evan Park Howell (December 10, 1839August 6, 1905) was an American politician and early telegraph operator, as well as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Early years and education Evan Howell was born to Effie Ho ...

, 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 Robb ...

, German-American ice hockey player * Evan Kim, American actor * Evan King, 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 Evan McPherson (born July 21, 1999) is an American football placekicker for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida before being drafted by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2021 ...

(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 Baseb ...

, American baseball player * Evan Narcisse, 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 Dra ...

(born 2000), American football player *

Evan Peters Evan Thomas Peters (born January 20, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his multiple roles on the FX anthology series ''American Horror Story''; as Detective Colin Zabel in the HBO crime drama limited series '' Mare of Easttown'', whi ...

, American actor * Evan Price, 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), American radio personality * Evan Roderick, Canadian actor * Evan Rodriguez, American football player * Evan Royster, 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 ...

, 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 t ...

* Evan Stewart, Zimbabwean Olympic diver * Evan Tanner, American mixed martial artist * Evan Lorimer Thomas, Welsh clergyman *

Evan Thomas Evan Welling Thomas III (born April 25, 1951) is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers. Early life and career Thomas was born in Huntington, New York, and r ...

, American journalist and author *

Evan Turner Evan Marcel Turner (born October 27, 1988) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted second overall ...

, American professional basketball player * Evan Watkins, Welsh rugby footballer * Evan Weaver, American football player * Evan Weinstock, American Olympic bobsledder * Evan Williams, American singer * Evan Williams, 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, Welsh experimental physicist *

, American actress * Evan Wright, American writer * Evan Wallace, American Rapper *

Evan Yo Tsai Min-you (born 12 November 1986), better known as Evan Yo, is a Taiwanese Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; ...

, Taiwanese pop singer

Fictional characters

*Evan Barnett, businessman in the film '' Little Rascals'' *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 ...

'' *Evan Webber, main character in the 2005 film '' Knock Knock *Evan Baxter, in the 2007 film ''

Evan Almighty ''Evan Almighty'' is a 2007 American comedy film, and a 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 from the origina ...

'' *Evan Chambers, in the 2007 TV series ''

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

'' *Evan Delaney, female writer and legal assistant in five novels by

Meg Gardiner Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Megatron, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer), a Japanese singer * Meg Cabot (born 1967), American author of romantic and paranormal fiction * Meg Burton Cahil ...

*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 ...

'' and its 2021 film adaptation. *Evan Hawkins, Paramedic Field Chief on '' Chicago Fire'' *Evan Lewis, a character from ''

Final Destination 2 ''Final Destination 2'' is a 2003 American supernatural horror film directed by David R. Ellis. The screenplay was written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, based on a story by Gruber, Bress, and series creator Jeffrey Reddick. It is the seq ...

'' *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 M ...

*Evan Treborn, in the 2004 film ''

The Butterfly Effect ''The Butterfly Effect'' is a 2004 American science fiction thriller film written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber. It stars Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz, William Lee Scott, Elden Henson, Logan Lerman, Ethan Suplee ...

'' *Evan Rosier, deceased Death Eater in the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at H ...

'' series

Surname

*Rev. Cadwallader William Evan (?–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 dia ...

References

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