Given name & surname · also Norman French

Travis

“to cross over”

Travis is used as a given name and a surname. One French interpretation is “to cross over.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One French interpretation is “to cross over.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is Norman French.

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.

Travis through the years

Babies since 1880
310,687
308,571 boys · 2,116 girls
Most popular year
1989
11,575 babies
2025
732
#434 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20
−24%
Easing
02,0004,0006,0008,00018801900192019401960198020002025Highest share 1979429
Travis in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1880–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

Where it’s given

Most at home inNew Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina
FewerMore, relative to births Not published
2025 births by state of birth. Tiles are equal-sized so small states stay visible. Highest rates: New Jersey (30), Virginia (25), North Carolina (32), Pennsylvania (31), Georgia (27).

By the numbers

In 2025, this name appeared in 732 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 434 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 24.4% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11,526 in 1989. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (89). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 248,557 as a first name in 2020; 33,156 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.

Travis’s family of names

In English usage, Travis has a diminutive in TRAV. Travis has a related form in Trevis. Travis has a related form in Travers.

Walk Travis’s family in the name graph

TravisThravisΤράβιςTrevisTraversTravesTravusTravissTraverTravysTravTravvisTrevys

Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 10

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Show 2 moreShow fewer

Spellings & scripts 2

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

People named Travis

Characters named Travis: Travis Mayweather (Star Trek: Enterprise), Travis Bickle (protagonist of the 1976 film Taxi Driver), Warlord (sword and sorcery character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics), Travis Manawa (the television series Fear the Walking Dead).

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Travis, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

French

Marquis

“a lord of the borderlands; a nobleman”

39RareCooling

>99% boys

English

Derek

“the ruler of the tribe”

67FamiliarEasing

>99% boys

English

Brandon

“from the broom or gorse hill”

69FamiliarCooling

>99% boys

Visigothic

Alfonso

“prepared for battle; eager and ready”

48UncommonSteady

>99% boys

French · Nature

Lamar

“from the renowned land” · “of the sea”

43UncommonCooling

86% boys · 14% girls

French · Royal

Jacques

“he who supplants” · “heel grabber”

37RareEasing

>99% boys

German

Terrell

“one who is stubborn” · “a powerful man”

41UncommonCooling

>99% boys

Spanish · Literary

Orlando

“from the renowned land”

51UncommonEasing

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Travis’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Travis

A sister for Travis