Tavon
A variant of Tayvon, a masculine name of English origin meaning "path".
Name Census estimates that about 4,027 living Americans carry the first name Tavon. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Tavon today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tavon births was 1996 (188 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tavon. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tavon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tavon is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 78 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 85,114 Americans
Peak year
1996
188 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,578
Tracked since 1972
Census
Tavon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,887 people with the first name Tavon, which placed it at #5,772 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
#5,772
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,887 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tavon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tavon is Black at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and White (3.9%). 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 Tavon 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 Tavon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.5% · 2,440
- Two or more races7.0% · 203
- White3.9% · 113
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 93
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Tavon
Tavon leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 78 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tavon as a male name
- Ranked #3,578 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (188 births)
Tavon as a female name
- Ranked #17,843 in 2002
- 5 female births in 2002
- Peak: 1988 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tavon leans strongly male. 2,810 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 73 female bearers (2.5%).
Popularity
Tavon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tavon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,460 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
Tavon 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 Tavon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tavons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. Maryland, New York, Virginia recorded the most babies named Tavon, while Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 122 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tavon
The name Tavon has its origins in the French language, tracing back to the late 18th century. It is believed to be a variation of the name Tauon, which itself is derived from the Old French word "tauer," meaning "to gaze" or "to stare." The name may have been initially used to describe someone with a pensive or thoughtful demeanor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tavon can be found in a French census from the year 1793, where it was listed as the name of a young boy born in a small village in the Provence region of southern France. However, the name remained relatively obscure until the mid-19th century.
In 1856, a French author named Tavon Delacroix published a notable work of historical fiction titled "Les Chroniques de Montpellier" (The Chronicles of Montpellier), which brought some recognition to the name. Delacroix's birthdate is unknown, but he is believed to have lived from the late 18th to the mid-19th century.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Tavon was a French artist and sculptor named Tavon Rousseau, born in 1872. Rousseau is credited with creating several public monuments and statues that can still be seen in various cities across France.
In the early 20th century, a French military officer named Tavon Dupont gained recognition for his service during World War I. Dupont, born in 1889, was awarded the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
Crossing over into the realm of literature, a French novelist named Tavon Mercier, born in 1912, gained critical acclaim for his novels that explored themes of existentialism and the human condition. His most famous work, "Le Silence des Mots" (The Silence of Words), published in 1958, is still studied in literature courses today.
It is worth noting that while the name Tavon has its roots in French culture, it has gained some popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in certain regions of the United States, where it may have been adopted and adapted from its original French form.
People
Tavon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tavon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tavon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tavon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,027 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tavon 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 85,114 US residents.
Is Tavon a common name?
We classify Tavon as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tavon most popular?
The single biggest year for Tavon was 1996, when 188 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tavon is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tavon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,887 people with the name Tavon, or 0.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,772 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 Tavon 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 Tavon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tavon leans strongly male. 2,810 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 73 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Tavon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tavon is Black at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and White (3.9%). 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 Tavon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tavon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (2,440 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 Tavon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tavon a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Tavon 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 Tavon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tavon 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 Tavon 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 called Tavon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.