Evelyn

English

Etymology

Medieval English form of the Old French female name Aveline, diminutive of the Germanic root *avi-, of uncertain meaning, possibly “desired, wished for“ (compare Latin aveo (“to wish for”)), or aval “strength”. By folk etymology the name Eve is seen as a diminutive of the female given name. Doublet of Eileen. Also compare Ava.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (female given name) /ˈɛvəlɪn/, (male given name) /ˈiːvlɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Proper noun

Evelyn

1. A female given name from the Germanic languages.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, Evelyn Hope:

     Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead! / Sit and watch by her side an hour.

   • 1980, Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, Alfred A.Knopf, published 1981, →ISBN, page 179:

     "I don't wear flowers," Evelyn Lilith said, and tossed the unwanted chain into the air, spearing it before it fell with a pellet from her unerring Daisy air-pistol. Destroying flowers with a Daisy, she served notice that she was not to be manacled, not even by a necklace: she was our capricious, whirligig Lill-of-the-Hill. And also Eve. The Adam's-apple of my eye.

2. A surname originating as a matronymic.
3. A male given name transferred from the surname.

   Evelyn Waugh

Related terms

• Ava
• Eileen
• Eveleen
• Eveline
• Ev
• Evelynn

Translations

female given name

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 伊夫琳 (Yīfūlín)

• Czech: Evelína (cs) f
• Estonian: Evelin
• Finnish: Eveliina (fi)
• French: Évelyne (fr)
• Greek: Εβελίνα (el) (Evelína)
• Hungarian: Evelin (hu)
• Irish: Eibhlín f
• Latvian: Evelīna f
• Polish: Ewelina (pl)
• Portuguese: Evelina f, Evelin f
• Russian: Эвели́на (ru) f (Evelína), Э́велин f (Évelin) (transliteration)
• Swedish: Evelina (sv)

Anagrams

• evenly, levyne

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Evelyn

1. a female given name from English

Norwegian

Proper noun

Evelyn

1. a female given name from English