Evelyn on the cover, Evie at bedtime: a name with two voices

Where the name Evelyn comes from

Evelyn reached English as a surname. It traces back to the Norman French given name Aveline, which arrived in England after 1066 and was itself a pet form of an older Germanic name whose exact meaning is uncertain — suggestions include "desired" or "wished-for child". Over the centuries Aveline settled into the family name Evelyn, and from the seventeenth century onward families began using that surname as a first name again.

For a long stretch it was used for boys as well as girls; in Britain a male Evelyn was not unusual well into the twentieth century. Gradually the name drifted to the girls' side, and today it is overwhelmingly a girl's name throughout the English-speaking world.

Many people link Evelyn to the meaning "life" because of the way it opens with Ev-. That connection is popular and pretty, but it comes from the sound rather than the history; the documented line runs through Aveline.

The name's popularity has had two lives. It was well used in the early 1900s, faded mid-century, and then came back strongly with the revival of vintage names. In the United States it has sat in or around the top ten for girls in recent years, and Australian parents have embraced both Evelyn and the short form Evie, which is often given as a name in its own right. There is no name day to list for Evelyn here — the calendar this site uses doesn't include it.

Part of the appeal is how well the name travels between generations. To grandparents it can sound like a great-aunt or a favourite teacher; to children it sounds fresh, because they rarely meet an Evelyn older than themselves. A book with her name on it fits neatly into that: a little bit heirloom, a little bit brand new. And because Evelyn ends in a soft -lyn, it runs smoothly into almost any title — "Evelyn and the…" never trips the tongue when it's read aloud at bedtime.

Nicknames and ways to say Evelyn

• Evie — By far the favourite. Bright and quick, it's the version siblings, grandparents and kinder friends tend to use day to day.
• Evvie — The same sound with a double v — some families prefer this spelling because it can't be misread as "Eye-vee".
• Eve — A shorter, slightly more grown-up option that some Evelyns adopt later on; it keeps the opening of the name and drops the rest.
• Lyn or Lynnie — Built from the end of the name instead of the start. Less common today, but it was a classic nickname for Evelyns of earlier generations.
• Evelyn in full — Kept for the cover, the first day of school, and the moments a story wants to sound important — or when a parent needs to be heard from the other end of the house.