Trevelyan
Of English origin meaning "farm house near a town".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Trevelyan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Trevelyan today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trevelyan births was 2000 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trevelyan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Trevelyan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2000
6 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2000 SSA rank
#10,264
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Trevelyan: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Trevelyan 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 Trevelyan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Trevelyan
The name Trevelyan is an English given name with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Cornish place name Trevalgan, which means "homestead among the elms" or "farm amidst the elms". The name is thought to have originated in Cornwall, a region in southwestern England known for its distinct Celtic heritage and language.
Trevelyan first emerged as a surname in the 12th century, with the earliest recorded examples found in Cornish and Devonian records. The name gained prominence during this period due to the influential Trevelyan family, a prominent English gentry clan based in Cornwall and Somerset. The Trevelyan surname can be traced back to a Norman knight named Reuelant or Reuellon, who settled in Cornwall after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
In the 13th century, the name Trevelyan began to be used as a given name, likely influenced by the Trevelyan family's status and reputation. One of the earliest known individuals with the given name Trevelyan was Trevelyan de Halwin, who was mentioned in the Cornish Subsidy Rolls of 1327.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Trevelyan. One of the most famous was Sir Walter Trevelyan (1555-1628), an English landowner and politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Somerset in the early 17th century. Another prominent figure was George Otto Trevelyan (1838-1928), a British historian and author who wrote extensively on the history of the British Empire.
In the realm of literature, Trevelyan featured prominently with Robert Calverley Trevelyan (1872-1951), a British poet and translator who was part of the Georgian poetic movement. Additionally, Julian Trevelyan (1910-1988) was a renowned British painter and printmaker associated with the Surrealist and Neoclassical movements.
Trevelyan has also been a name associated with military service, with figures like Sir Walter Raleigh Trevelyan (1797-1879), a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and the Crimean War, and Charles Philips Trevelyan (1870-1958), a British Army officer who fought in the Second Boer War and World War I.
While the name Trevelyan has its roots in Cornwall and has been associated with English history and culture, it has also gained recognition in other parts of the world, particularly in regions influenced by British colonization and settlement.
People
Trevelyan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trevelyan 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
Trevelyan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trevelyan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trevelyan 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Trevelyan a common name?
We classify Trevelyan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trevelyan most popular?
The single biggest year for Trevelyan was 2000, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trevelyan is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Trevelyan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trevelyan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Trevelyan 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 Trevelyan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trevelyan 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 Trevelyan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Trevelyan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.