Kevin peaked in 1963 at rank 11 and has slid to 196 in 2024. Nearly 1.2 million American boys have been named Kevin, making it one of the highest-volume names in 20th-century SSA data. The chart shape is the classic mid-century ascent through the 1950s, dominant peak across the 1960s and 1970s, and steady release through the 2000s and 2010s.
The Irish saint
Kevin is the anglicized form of Irish Caoimhín, derived from caomh meaning "gentle," "kind," or "handsome." Saint Kevin of Glendalough (498-618), the founder of the monastery at Glendalough in County Wicklow, is the original Irish bearer. The name was historically rare outside Ireland until the 20th century, when Irish-American emigration brought it into mainstream American naming use.
Notable bearers include actor Kevin Costner (born 1955), basketball player Kevin Durant (born 1988), comedian Kevin Hart (born 1979), and the fictional Kevin McCallister of Home Alone (1990). The combination of athletes, actors, and pop-culture figures kept Kevin in continuous mid-tier visibility long after the 1960s peak.
The Hispanic-American second wave
Kevin is one of the few mid-century Anglo names that found a major second wave through Latino-American naming. The name has been heavily adopted in Spanish-speaking communities throughout the 1990s and 2000s, often anglicized in pronunciation but kept with the original spelling. This second-wave adoption is part of why Kevin's slide from peak has been gentler than Mark or Brian.
The cluster Kevin sits in includes Brian, Sean, and Patrick: the Irish-American Catholic mid-century cohort. All four names peaked between 1955 and 1975 and are now in the same trough. Sean and Patrick have shorter, sharper profiles; Kevin has the softer two-syllable rhythm.
The counter-reading
The honest reading of Kevin in 2025 is that the name now reads as boomer or Gen-X coded depending on the specific bearer's age. The Home Alone effect adds a 1990s-childhood register on top. Vintage revival typically takes another generation, and Kevin is not yet there. Parents picking Kevin today often do so for family or cultural reasons. The Irish-origin cluster and falling names list show the broader pattern.