Meaning of the nameKelvin

Kelvin is a male name taken from the name of a river in Scotland, of Gaelic origin, that possibly means 'narrow water'.

Meaning

“possibly 'narrow water', from the name of a Scottish river”

Source: Behind the Name: Kelvin · Wiktionary: Kelvin

People (2022): 40,851
Rank in Brazil: #659
Median age: 16 years
2010 Census: 27,852; people

Kelvin in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Kelvin, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 2000s (13,908 people).

371 women 40,480 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Kelvin is most common

States with the highest share of people named Kelvin in the population, in the 2022 Census.

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	12,195	0.028%
Minas Gerais	3,225	0.016%
Paraná	2,984	0.026%
Rio Grande do Sul	2,956	0.027%
Bahia	2,745	0.019%
Santa Catarina	2,321	0.031%
Rio de Janeiro	2,235	0.014%
Pará	1,336	0.017%
Pernambuco	1,046	0.012%
Maranhão	889	0.013%
Ceará	881	0.010%
Goiás	854	0.012%
Mato Grosso	791	0.022%
Mato Grosso do Sul	784	0.028%
Amazonas	723	0.018%
Paraíba	649	0.016%
Distrito Federal	649	0.023%
Espírito Santo	640	0.017%
Alagoas	555	0.018%
Piauí	511	0.016%
Sergipe	453	0.021%
Rondônia	356	0.023%
Rio Grande do Norte	352	0.011%
Roraima	225	0.035%
Acre	205	0.025%
Amapá	146	0.020%
Tocantins	145	0.010%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Kelvin

Behind the Name explains Kelvin as the name of a Scottish river, perhaps meaning 'narrow water'. Wiktionary records the given name as taken from a Scottish surname, which in turn comes from the river's name, possibly from Gaelic caol, 'narrow', or coille, 'woodland', plus abhainn, 'river'. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 40,851 people named Kelvin, with a median age of 16. The name is almost always male and, proportionally, it is most common in Roraima. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil) lists Kelvyn among the spelling variants of Kelvin, alongside Kelvim.

This is the most common spelling in the group, the same as the name of the Scottish river and the surname.

Other spellings of Kelvin

Spelling	People (2022)
Kelvin	40,851
Kelvyn	2,736

Sources

Behind the Name: Kelvin · behindthename.com · meaning
Wiktionary: Kelvin · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Kelvin · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Kelvin

What does the name Kelvin mean?

Kelvin means “possibly 'narrow water', from the name of a Scottish river”, according to Behind the Name and Wiktionary.

How many people are named Kelvin in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 40,851 people with the first name Kelvin, which ranks it number 659 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 2000s.

Is Kelvin a boy's or a girl's name?

Kelvin is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 371 women and 40,480 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Kelvin?

Kelvin is a name of Celtic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Kelvin most common?

Proportionally, in Roraima: 0.035% of the state's population is named Kelvin (225 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Kelvin?

Kelvyn. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

Names that also mean water

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More names of Celtic origin

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Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Kelvin with a source. See the methodology.