Find out how popular the last name Garvin is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Garvin.

Garvin, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Garvin surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Garvin in America

Garvin is the 2664th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Garvin surname appeared 13,536 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Garvin.

We can also compare 2010 data for Garvin to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Garvin

The surname Garvin originated in Scotland and is a variant of the name Garvine, which comes from the Gaelic word "garbh" meaning "rough" or "rugged." The earliest recorded instances of this surname date back to the 16th century in the parish records of Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, a record of landowners in England after the Norman Conquest, there is no mention of the name Garvin or its variants. However, the name appears in various historical documents and records from Scotland in the following centuries.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Garvin was John Garvin, a Scottish clergyman who lived in the late 16th century and served as the minister of Kilwinning in Ayrshire.

In the 17th century, a prominent figure with this surname was Robert Garvin, a Scottish mathematician and astronomer who was born in Muirkirk, Ayrshire, around 1630. He contributed to the development of logarithms and published works on astronomy.

Another notable bearer of the Garvin name was James Garvin, a Scottish politician and lawyer who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1766 to 1768.

In the 19th century, Joseph Garvin (1820-1896) was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist from Glasgow. He made his fortune in the textile industry and donated significant funds for educational and charitable causes.

During the same period, William Garvin (1847-1919) was a Scottish journalist and newspaper editor who worked for several influential publications, including the Newcastle Daily Chronicle and the Observer.

The surname Garvin can also be found in various place names and older spellings, such as Garvine and Garvan, which are still used in some areas of Scotland today.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Garvin

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Garvin.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Garvin was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Garvin has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Garvin was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Garvin, please contact us.

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