Evelyn (name)

Common card · No. 222641

Evelyn is a matronymic English surname derived from the medieval girl's name Aveline (which is of Norman origin and represents a diminutive form of Ava). Since the 17th century, it has also been used as a given name. The earliest recorded bearer was Evelyn Pierrepont (d. 1726), who was a grandson of the Roundhead politician Sir John Evelyn. The family subsequently used the name for both male and female children, including Pierrepont's third daughter. The English census of 1841 listed 84 Evelyns, half male and half female. By 1851, there were 88 male and 196 female Evelyns. On the other side of the Atlantic, the 1850 United States census listed 53 male and 310 female Evelyns. The name has continued to be predominantly feminine since. The name jumped in popularity in 1907 due to the influence of Evelyn Nesbit, the first "supermodel", whose husband Harry Kendall Thaw murdered Stanford White in 1906 over his alleged sexual assault of Nesbit. The publicized trial and Nesbit's subsequent fame...

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