Gavin
GAV-in
A traditional Scottish name associated in old sources with battle-heroic or craftsman roots.
Meaning
The 19th-century excerpts give two different traditional explanations for Gavin. One treats it as a Scottish/Keltic name meaning “hawk of battle,” while another says it comes from Gaelic *gobhainn*, “a blacksmith,” and links it with the related forms Gawain and Gawan. Because the historical books disagree, the safest reading is that Gavin is an old Scottish name with uncertain but strongly Celtic associations.
Origin
Scottish GaelicCelticmasculine
Fun fact
Older writers note that Gavin, Gawain, and Gawan were all used in medieval England and Scotland, and the name survived especially well in Scotland.