Devin (name)

The unisex given name Devin is of Irish origin, derived from the surname Devin. The surname is in turn derived from the Irish Ó Damháin, meaning "descendant of Damhán". The byname Damhán means "fawn".[1]

French connotations

The epithet Devyn in Old French carried the meaning of 'divine' (Mod. Fr. divin). It was given to the highest of kings, as a title conveying the sense of a perfect or flawless being. A descendent of the Latin dīvīnus, Old French devin ultimately derives from the name of the Proto-Indo-European god Dyēus (q.v.), followed by the Greco-Latin suffix -īnus: thus a combined meaning of 'godlike' or 'godly'.

In Modern French, devyn refers to a man who divines; a soothsayer (a female soothsayer would be a devineresse). This sense, again, comes from the Latin dīvīnus, while Old French devin (Godly) has shifted to the modern 'd i v i n' spelling. Devyn is also of Indian (Hindu) origin meaning "resembling a God"

People named Devin

See also

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