Travis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine first name of English origin, or a family name carried by people in English-speaking countries
2. A personal name, used mainly for men, that also serves as a surname passed down through families
3. Used as a male given name or as a hereditary family surname, especially among English-speaking populations

Etymology: "Travis" is an alteration of "traverse," the verb that originally meant to cross or lie across something. The shift happened in English, and the new spelling sounds like a surname, which is how the form is most commonly encountered today. The sense of "traverse" that matters here is its older use for barriers and obstacles: to move across, or to thwart. Over time, the altered form took on its own life, and "Travis" is now better known as a given name and surname than as a verb.