Devaughn
Of French origin, meaning "of the valley" or "from the valley".
Name Census estimates that about 2,450 living Americans carry the first name Devaughn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Devaughn today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Devaughn births was 1993 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Devaughn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 139,900 Americans
Peak year
1993
135 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,445
Tracked since 1926
Census
Devaughn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,901 people with the first name Devaughn, which placed it at #7,833 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,833
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,901 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Devaughn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Devaughn is Black at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and White (6.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Devaughn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Devaughn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.7% · 1,497
- Two or more races8.5% · 162
- White6.0% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 92
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 13
Popularity
Devaughn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Devaughn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 852 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Devaughn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Devaughn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Devaughns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. New York, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Devaughn, while Virginia, Missouri, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Devaughn
The name Devaughn has its roots in the French language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is a combination of the words "de" and "vaughn," with "de" meaning "from" and "vaughn" being derived from the Germanic word "valk," which means "hawk."
The name Devaughn was originally associated with nobility and was often given to members of the French aristocracy who hailed from regions known for their falconry traditions. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 12th century, where it appears in various historical documents and records of the time.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Devaughn was a French nobleman named Devaughn de Montfort, who lived during the late 12th century. He was a prominent figure in the Third Crusade and fought alongside King Richard the Lionheart in the Holy Land.
Another notable figure with the name Devaughn was Devaughn de Valois, a 14th-century French knight and military commander who played a significant role in the Hundred Years' War between England and France. He was renowned for his bravery and tactical skills on the battlefield.
In the realm of literature, the name Devaughn appears in the works of the renowned French author, François Rabelais. One of the characters in his satirical novel, "Gargantua and Pantagruel," is named Devaughn, although this was likely a fictitious name used for narrative purposes.
During the Renaissance period, the name Devaughn gained popularity among the French nobility and was often bestowed upon sons of noble families. One such individual was Devaughn de Montmorency, a 16th-century French nobleman and military leader who served as a Marshal of France under King Henry IV.
In more recent times, the name Devaughn has been associated with several individuals of note, including Devaughn Nixon, an American football player who played for the Green Bay Packers in the 1990s, and Devaughn Akoon-Purcell, a former professional basketball player from New Zealand.
People
Devaughn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Devaughn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Devaughn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Devaughn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Devaughn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 139,900 US residents.
Is Devaughn a common name?
We classify Devaughn as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,552 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Devaughn most popular?
The single biggest year for Devaughn was 1993, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Devaughn is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Devaughn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,901 people with the name Devaughn, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,833 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Devaughn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Devaughn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Devaughn leans strongly male. 1,843 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 54 female bearers (2.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Devaughn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Devaughn is Black at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and White (6.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Devaughn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Devaughn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (1,497 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Devaughn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Devaughn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Devaughn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Devaughn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Devaughn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Devaughn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Devaughn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.