Mavis
- Pronunciation
- [Ma-vis]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Joy
- Origin
- French
About the Name Mavis
Mavis takes its name from an old word for the song thrush, a bird prized for its rich, melodic singing; the term passed into English through French, where it carried associations of cheer and joyful sound. That avian root gives the name a sweet, old-fashioned warmth and a literal note of song — a charming choice with a gently vintage character and a meaning rooted in birdsong and gladness.
Its appeal lies in that nostalgic, slightly whimsical quality, the kind of soft Edwardian name that has come back into fashion as families look beyond the obvious classics toward forgotten gems. The single recorded variant is Mavra, a closely related form that preserves the name's distinctive rhythm while offering a slightly more unusual look for parents who want it.
Mavis is a recent arrival in the modern US Social Security top-1000, first entering for girls in 2016 and reaching its peak in the most recent year tracked, 2024, at rank #566, with 532 girls given the name that year; it had stood at #595 in 2023 and #681 in 2022 on its way up. Having accumulated 3,492 girls across this current run, Mavis is an antique charmer freshly rediscovered and still climbing steadily in American favor — a name that quite literally sings, carrying its own melody and a soft, sepia-toned warmth all its own.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Mavis
US Popularity History (2016–2025)
Annual US births named Mavis by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 537 girls named Mavis (girl rank #561 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Mavis Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Mavis the strongest states are Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas.
Strongest girls-name states
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennsylvania | #850 | 93 |
| 2 | Virginia | #840 | 63 |
| 3 | Illinois | #803 | 119 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | #800 | 19 |
| 5 | California | #751 | 406 |
| 6 | Texas | #744 | 260 |
| 7 | North Carolina | #720 | 75 |
| 8 | Kentucky | #700 | 44 |
| 9 | Alabama | #673 | 22 |
| 10 | Ohio | #661 | 152 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Mavis in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Mavis?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Mavis to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Mavis against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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