Evelyn

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine first name of English origin, often given to girls and women in English-speaking countries
2. A personal name for a woman or girl, derived from an old English family name and used widely in English-speaking regions
3. A female forename of English origin that has been popular in the English-speaking world since the nineteenth century

Etymology: Evelyn began as a French woman's name, and the surname form carries the older story. Old French had "Aveline," a diminutive of a Germanic name whose root, *avi-, may have meant "desired" or "wished for," though its exact sense is uncertain. Middle English speakers adapted the name into forms that eventually became "Evelyn," and that shift is where the name's most unexpected twist happens: people began to hear it as a little version of "Eve," the Biblical first woman. The link is a folk etymology, a plausible-sounding story that the name's sound suggested, not its real source. The name also has a sibling. "Eileen," which came into use in Ireland, is a doublet of Evelyn, meaning the two names split from the same Old French source and took different paths into English. The name "Ava" is a related form that readers may also recognize.