Humanverse

Taven vs Tavis

American parents have registered 2,216 Tavises since 1880, against 1,765 Tavens. But in 2025 it was Taven that was commoner, 24 babies to 9.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Taven against Tavis, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Taven Tavis

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 63 years in which either name was published, Tavis for 41 years and Taven for 22 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Taven Tavis
Total US births 1,7652,216
Most in one year 15879
Babies in 2025 249
Estimated living today 1,7002,100
Median age today 1533
Peak year 20071999
Best rank 1,132nd boys1,457th boys
Rank in 2025 5,399th8,243rd
First recorded 19861963
Girls / boys 59 / 1,7066 / 2,210

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Tavises alive today are over 33; half the Tavens are over 15. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Taven and Tavis.