Meaning & Origin
A river which flows through East Dunbartonshire council area and Glasgow council area, Scotland, to the River Clyde.
Kelvin is a boy's and girl's baby name of Scottish Gaelic origin, from the River Kelvin in Scotland, whose name may derive from the Gaelic caol (narrow) and abhainn (river), meaning "narrow water." Lord Kelvin — the physicist William Thomson — gave the name scientific prestige as the unit of thermodynamic temperature.
With over 51,000 U.S. births recorded, Kelvin has been a consistent American name for generations. Its scientific association with absolute temperature and the pioneering Lord Kelvin gives it an intellectual character, and its smooth two-syllable flow has kept it in steady use, particularly in African-American and Caribbean-American communities.