Given name & surname
Even
“God is gracious”
Even is a variant of Evan. In Welsh use, Evan carries the interpretation “God is gracious.”
Original Old NorseEyvindr
Meaning & origin
What it means
Even is a variant of Evan. In Welsh use, Evan carries the interpretation “God is gracious.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Even comes from Old Norse, and ultimately from Proto-Norse.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Old Norse Eyvindr, from Proto-Norse *Auja-winduʀ.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1917. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Even through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 555
- 555 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 28 babies
- 2025
- 7
- #10,007 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −10%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 7 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 10,007 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 10.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 28 in 2008. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,403 as a first name in 2020; 1,925 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Even’s family of names
In Norwegian Bokmål usage, Even shares an earlier linguistic root with EIVIND. Even has a related form in Evan. In Danish usage, Even has a conventional equivalent in the Polish form Jan.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Even has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its Old Norse roots to each of them.
Old Norsewhere Even comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 15
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Even
- Even HovlandNorwegian association football playerborn 1989
- Even PellerudNorwegian footballer and managerborn 1953
- Even WettenNorwegian speed skaterborn 1982
- MagnetNorwegian singer-songwriterborn 1970
- Even NorthugNorwegian cross country skierborn 1995
- Even HammerNorwegian civil servant1732–1800
- Even UlvingNorwegian painter (1863-1952)
- Even TjivijuNamibian sprinterborn 1992
- Even HansenNorwegian association football player (1923-2016)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Even, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“son of Erik”
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Esko
Esko is a masculine given name from Old Swedish, ultimately from Old Norse. It is used in Finnish and Estonian.
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“Thor” · “stone”
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