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Evelyn

Girl name · 1,062 babies recorded · 1974–2025

Evelyn: 1,062 babies born in Scotland since 1974, given to girls, peaking at 56 births in 2023.

Evelyn began life as an English surname derived from the Norman French Aveline, a diminutive of Ava, whose roots may lie in the Germanic element *avi* (desired) or the Latin *avis* (bird). Today it is most often seen as a variant of Eve, meaning “life” or “living” in Hebrew. The name gained literary fame through novelist Evelyn Waugh, author of *Brideshead Revisited*, and is also borne by Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who has profoundly deafness yet performs internationally. While Evelyn appears as a place name in several