Given name & surname · also Middle English
Jarvis
“one who wields a spear”
Jarvis is used as a given name and a surname. One French interpretation is “one who wields a spear.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One French interpretation is “one who wields a spear.”
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Middle English, although the derivation remains uncertain.
How it developed
It entered given-name use through an existing surname.
The story
Its naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Jarvis through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 17,843
- 17,720 boys · 123 girls
- Most popular year
- 1989
- 644 babies
- 2025
- 44
- #2,858 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −33%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 44 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 2,858 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 32.8% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 635 in 1989. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (7). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 11,958 as a first name in 2020; 33,745 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.
Jarvis’s family of names
Jarvis has a related form in Jervis. Jarvis has a related form in Jary. In English usage, Jarvis has a conventional equivalent in the Polish form Gerwazy.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 13
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Jervisvariant · English
- Jarvievariant
- Jaryvariant
- Jarvellvariant
- Jarvisslikely variant
- Jarrvislikely variant
- Jarvyvariant
- Jarvivariant
Show 5 moreShow fewer
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 2
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Jarvis
- Jarvis CockerEnglish singer and musician (born 1963)
- Jarvis VarnadoAmerican basketball player (born 1988)
- Jarvis HayesAmerican basketball playerborn 1981
- Jarvis LandryAmerican football playerborn 1992
- Jarvis HuntAmerican architect (1863–1941)
- Jae MillzAmerican rapperborn 1983
- Jarvis WilliamsAmerican basketball player (born 1993)
- Jarvis Tynerformer Vice-Presidential candidate of the Communist Party of the United States of Americaborn 1941
- Jarvis JonesAmerican football player, linebackerborn 1989
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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