 Mavis Yorke by Wilfrid de Glehn, 1920. | |
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Language(s) | Old French via Breton |
| Origin | |
| Meaning | song thrush |
Mavis is a feminine given name, derived from a name for the common Old World song thrush.[1] Its first modern usage was in Marie Corelli's 1895 novel The Sorrows of Satan, which featured a character named Mavis Clare (whose name was said to be "rather odd but suitable", as "she sings quite as sweetly as any thrush"[2]). The name was long obsolete by the 19th century, but known from its poetic use, as in Robert Burns's 1794 poem Ca' the Yowes ("Hark the mavis evening sang/Sounding Clouden's woods amang");[3] and in the popular love song "Mary of Argyle" (c.1850), where lyricist Charles Jefferys wrote, "I have heard the mavis singing its love-song to the morn."[4]
Mavis was among the top 100 names for newborn girls in New Zealand between 1900 and 1943 and among the top 100 names for newborn girls in the United Kingdom between 1924 and 1944. It first appeared among the 1,000 most popular names for newborn girls in the United States in 1895. It was at peak use for American girls between 1920 and 1938, when it was among the top 300 names given to newborn girls. Its usage declined thereafter in the Anglosphere, but usage in the United States has since increased in recent years. Mavis has again been among the top 1,000 names for newborn girls in the United States since 2016.[5][6] Mavis Dracula is Dracula's teenage daughter in the popular Hotel Transylvania franchise, which debuted in 2012 and has had sequels in 2015, 2018, and 2022.
