Vivian (personal name)

Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine Vivianus and feminine Viviana, which survived into modern use because it is the name of two early Christian female martyrs as well as of a male saint and bishop.

History and variants

The Latin name Vivianus is recorded from the 1st century. It is ultimately related to the adjective vivus "alive", but it is formed from the compound form vivi- and the adjectival -ānus suffix used to form cognomina.

The latinate given name Vivianus was of limited popularity in the medieval period in reference to Saint Vivianus, a 5th-century bishop of Saintes; the feminine name was that of Saint Viviana (Bibiana), a 4th-century martyr whose veneration in Rome is ascertained for the 5th century.

In Arthurian legend, Vivian in its various spellings is one of the names of the Lady of the Lake.

The name was brought to England with the Norman invasion, and is occasionally recorded in England in the 12th and 13th centuries. The masculine given name appears with greater frequency in the early modern period. The spelling Vivian was historically used only as a masculine name, and is still used as such in the UK with this spelling, but in the 19th century was also given to girls and was a unisex name until the early part of the 20th century; since the mid 20th century, it has been almost exclusively given as a feminine name in the United States. Use of Vivian as a feminine name peaked in popularity in the United States in 1920 at rank 64, but declined in the second half of the 20th century, falling below rank 500 in the 1980s. Its popularity has again picked up somewhat since the 1990s, as of 2012 having attained rank 140.

Variants of the feminine name include Viviana, Viviane, and Vivienne. The French feminine spelling Vivienne in the United States rose sharply in recent years from below rank 1,000 (no statistical record) to rank 322 in the period 2009–2012. The Italian or Latin form Viviana has enjoyed some popularity since the 1990s, reaching rank 322 in 2000. The spelling Vivien is the French masculine form, but in English speaking countries it has long been used as a feminine form, due to its appearance as the name of the Arthurian Lady of the Lake in Tennyson's Idylls of the King of 1859. For the masculine name, the variant Vyvyan has sometimes been used, based on the Cornish surname itself derived from the given name. The intermediary form Vyvian is also occasionally found.

The Gaelic name Ninian has sometimes been identified as a corruption of Vivian, but it is now considered more likely derived from Welsh Nynniaw, which is itself of uncertain origin, but likely renders Nennius. Bébinn is an unrelated, genuinely Gaelic name which has on occasion been rendered as Vivian in English.

As a surname

The given name Vivian was introduced to Norman England in the 11th or 12th century and over time gave rise to a variety of British surnames, including Videan, Vidgen, Vidgeon, Fiddian, Fidgeon, Phythian, and Phethean.

The Vyvyan family has been a prominent family of Cornwall since the 16th century. The Vyvyan baronetcy was created in the Baronetage of England for Sir Richard Vyvyan in 1645. Baron Vivian was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1841.

Notable bearers of the surname include:

• C. T. Vivian (1924–2020), American minister and author
• Herbert Vivian (1865-1940), British journalist and leader of the Neo-Jacobite Revival
• Ivor Vivian (born 1933), Australian politician
• Jennifer Vyvyan (1925-1974) English classical soprano singer
• John Lambrick Vivian (1830–1896), genealogist of Devon and Cornwall
• Joseph Vivien (1657–1735), French painter
• Renée Vivien (1877–1909), British poet in the French language
• Weston E. Vivian (1924–2020), American politician
• William Vyvyan, 14th-century English MP

List of individuals with the name

Masculine given name

Vivian

• Vivian Anderson (born 1956), English football coach and defender
• Vivian Balakrishnan (born 1961), Singaporean politician
• Vivian Barbot (born 1941), Canadian politician
• Vivian Bendall (born 1938), English Conservative politician
• Vivian Blake (1956–2010), Jamaican criminal
• Vivian Blake (politician) (1921–2000), Jamaican politician and chief justice of the Bahamas
• Vivian Bose (1891–1983), judge of the Supreme Court of India
• Vivian de Buffrénil (born 1950), French histologist and palaeobiologist
• Vivian Campbell (born 1962), Northern Irish heavy metal guitarist
• Vivian Cook (linguist) (1940–2021), English linguist and professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University
• Vivian Crawford (1879–1922), English first-class cricketer
• Vivian Dsena (born 1988), Indian TV actor
• Vivian Ellis (1904–1996), English musical comedy composer
• Vivian Frederick Maynard FitzSimons (1901–1975), South African herpetologist
• Sir Vivian Fuchs (1908–1999), English explorer to first cross Antarctica overland
• Vivian Hunter Galbraith (1889–1976), English historian and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University|Oxford
• Vivian H. H. Green (1915–2005), rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, and inspiration for John le Carré's character George Smiley
• Vivian Harris (born 1978), Guyanese boxer
• Vivian Wilson Henderson (1923–1976), American educator and human rights activist
• Vivian Imerman (born 1955), South African businessman and former CEO of Del Monte Foods
• Vivian Jackson (1946–2010), Jamaican reggae musician also known as Yabby You
• Clive Vivian Leopold James (Clive James, 1939–2019), Australian author
• Sir Vivian Naylor-Leyland, 3rd Baronet (1924–1987), British aristocrat and banker
• Sir Viv Richards (born 1952), Antiguan cricketer and sports commentator
• Vivian Roy Stanley Schokman (1887-1953), Sri Lankan Burgher politician and physician
• Major General Vivian Street (1912–1970), British army officer, also known for his charitable work, particularly as chairman of the Save the Children fund
• Vivian Van Damm (1895–1960), English impresario of the Windmill Theatre, London
• Vivian Wineman (born 1950), commercial lawyer, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews 2009–2015
• Vivian Woodward (1879–1954), English centre forward footballer

Vivien

• Vivien Thomas (1910–1985), American surgical technician

Vyvyan

• Vyvyan Adams (1900–1951), British Conservative Party politician
• Vyvyan Donnithorne (1886–1968), British Anglican missionary to China
• Vyvyan Evans, professor of Linguistics
• Vyvyan Evelegh (1898–1958), British Army Second World War major-general
• Vyvyan Holland (1886–1967), English author/translator, second son of Oscar Wilde
• Vyvyan Holt (1896–1960), British soldier, diplomat, and Oriental scholar
• Vyvyan Pope (1891–1941), British Army Second World War lieutenant-general

Vyvian

• Vyvian Pike (born 1969), English cricketer

Stage name or nickname

• "Vivian", a nickname given to Chaim Herzog in the 1940s
• Vivian Stanshall, stage name of Victor Anthony Stanshall (1943–1995), English comedic musician
• The Vivienne, stage name of James Lee Williams, British drag queen

Feminine given name

Late antiquity

The spelling of these names may differ depending on tradition.

• Saint Vibiana (3rd century)
• Saint Vivian (4th century)

Vivian

• Vivian Inez Archibald (born 1945), British Virgin Islander politician
• Vivian Bang (born 1983), American actress
• Vivian Cheruiyot (born 1983), Kenyan long-distance runner
• Vivian Chukwuemeka (born 1975), Nigerian shot putter
• Vivian Dandridge (1921–1991), American actress
• Vivian Fine (1913–2000), American composer
• Vivian Flowers (born c. 1969), American politician
• Vivian Gornick (born 1935), American author
• Vivian Green (born 1979), American R&B singer
• Vivian Ikechukwu (boen 1997), Nigerian footballer
• Vivi Janiss (1911–1988), American actress
• Vivian Annabelle Johnson (1912–1985), American physicist
• Vivian Joseph (born 1948), American figure skater
• Vivian Kong (born 1994), Hong Kong fencer
• Vivian Kubrick (born 1960), American-born English filmmaker and composer
• Vivian Maier (1926–2009), American photographer
• Vivian Nouri (born 1993), known professionally as Nouri, New Zealand recording artist of Kurdish descent
• Vivian Oparah (born 1996), British actress
• Vivian Schuyler Key (1905–1990), American artist, designer
• Vivian Silver (1949–2023), Canadian-Israeli peace activist
• Vivian Vance (1909–1979), American actress

Vivien

• Vivien Bishop (born 1945), New Zealand painter
• Vivien Cardone (born 1993), American actress
• Vivien Duffield (born 1946), British philanthropist
• Vivien Hailstone (1913–2000), Native American designer and educator
• Vivien Kirk, New Zealand mathematician
• Vivien Knight (1953–2009), British art historian and gallerist
• Vivien Leigh, born Vivian Mary Hartley (1913–1967), English Academy Award-winning actress
• Vivien Neves (1947–2002), British glamour model
• Vivien Sansour (born 1978), Palestinian visual artist
• Vivien Thomas (1910–1985), American laboratory supervisor

Viviane

• Viv Albertine (born 1954), British guitarist, songwriter and author
• Viviane Araújo (born 1986), Brazilian mixed martial artist
• Viviane Bampassy, Senegalese politician
• Viviane Biviga, Gabonese politician
• Vivi Fernandez (born 1977), Brazilian model
• Viviane Hagner (born 1977), German violinist
• Viviane Ndour, Senegalese singer
• Viviane Nicaise (born 1952), Belgian cartoonist and colorist
• Viviane Romance (1912–1991), French actress

Vivianne

• Vivianne Blanlot (born 1956), Chilean economist and politician
• Vivianne Crowley, English author, university lecturer, psychologist, and teacher of the Wiccan religion
• Vivianne Fock Tave, Seychellois diplomat
• Vivianne Miedema (born 1996), Dutch forward footballer
• Vivianne Pasmanter (born 1971), Brazilian actress
• Viviane Ventura, Mother of Sheherazade Goldsmith and author

Vivienne

• Vivienne Anderson, New Zealand professor of education
• Vivienne Boyd (1926–2011), New Zealand politician
• Vivienne Binns (born 1940), Australian artist
• Vivienne Chandler (1947–2013), French actress and photographer
• Vivienne Faull (born 1955), British Anglican bishop and Lord Spiritual
• Vivienne Goonewardene (1916–1996), Sri Lankan politician
• Vivienne Newton Gray (1917–1988), American educator in Liberia
• Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot (1888–1947), first wife of poet and writer T. S. Eliot
• Vivienne Malone-Mayes (1932–1995), American mathematician and professor
• Vivienne Medrano (born 1992), Salvadorian American animator, illustrator, comic creator, and voice actress
• Vivienne Ming, American theoretical neuroscientist and artificial intelligence expert
• Vivienne Osborne (1896–1961), American stage and film actress
• Vivienne (1889–1982), British photographer and singer
• Vivienne Pinay, Filipino-American drag queen
• Vivienne Roumani (born 1950), Libyan filmmaker
• Vivienne Segal (1897–1992) American actress
• Vivienne de Silva Boralessa (1930–2017), Sri Lankan singer
• Vivienne Spence (born 1965), Jamaican track and field athlete
• Vivienne Trumpy (1917–1975), stage name Vivi Gioi, Italian actress
• Vivienne de Watteville (1900–1957), United Kingdom author
• Vivienne Westwood (1941–2022), English fashion designer

Vyvienne

• Vyvienne Long, Irish musician

Vyvyan

• Vyvyan Lorrayne, South African ballerina

Vyvyane

• Vyvyane Loh, Chinese Hui-Shien, Malaysian-American novelist, choreographer, and physician

Hypocoristic Vivi (used as given name in Scandinavia)

• Vivi Bach (1939–2013), Danish actress and singer
• Vivi Flindt (born 1943), Danish ballerina
• Vivi Friedman (1967–2012), Finnish film director
• Vivi Krogh (1919–2014), Norwegian anti-immigration activist

As a pseudonym or adopted name

• Vivian Chow (born 1967), Hong Kong singer and actress
• Vivian Hsu (born 1975), Taiwanese singer, actress and model
• Vivienne Poy (born 1941), politician
• Vivienne Tam (born 1957), Hong Kong fashion designer
• Vivean Gray, British TV and film actress (adopted name of Jean Vivra Gray)

Others

• Vivienne Mort, Ukrainian indie rock band

Fictional characters

• Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, in Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859) and elsewhere
• Vivian Kudo (Yukiko Kudo), in Manga series Case Closed
• Vivian Grey, hero of Benjamin Disraeli's eponymous first novel, published in 1826
• Vivien de Monbranc, hero of a 12th-century French chanson de geste
• Vivian Alamain, on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives
• Vivian Dugger, cowardly banker and strip club enthusiast, Fargo (season 5)
• Vivien Harmon, one of the main characters in the American TV show American Horror Story
• Vivian Volkoff, daughter of the main antagonist of Chuck's season four
• Vivian Joan Abbot Walker, one of the main characters of the novel Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (1996) by Rebecca Wells
• Vyvyan Basterd, character in the British comedy series The Young Ones
• Vivian Ward, the title character in the film Pretty Woman (1990)
• Vivian Banks, or "Aunt Viv" character in the American comedy series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• Vivian Sternwood, General Sternwood's oldest daughter and a key figure in Raymond Chandler's crime novel The Big Sleep (1939)
• Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith, a character from the Monty Python sketch "Upper Class Twit of the Year"
• Vivienne, a character from the video game Dragon Age: Inquisition who can be recruited as a party member
• Princess Vivian, from the American animated television series Sofia the First; first appeared in The Shy Princess
• Vyvyan Ayrs, a famous but reclusive male composer in David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas (2004)
• Vivian (Paper Mario), one of the player's partners in the role-playing video game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
• Vivienne Deering, a character in British police drama No Offence
• Vivian "Viv", a supporting character in Freeform's canceled show Siren
• Vivian "Viv" Turner, Timmy Turner's cousin, and the main protagonist in The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder
• Vivien Reid, a character in the card game Magic: the Gathering.

References

1. Vivian Cash
2. Viv Richards
3. List of Irish-language given names
4. Vivian Stanshall
5. Vivien Leigh
6. Vivian Vance
7. Vivian Nixon
8. Vivian Silver
9. Given name
10. Mary Vivian Pearce
11. Daniel Vivian (footballer)
12. Vivian Grey
13. Vivian Campbell
14. Vivian Ikechukwu
15. Vivian Dandridge
16. Vivian Kubrick
17. Vivian Howard
18. Pretty Woman
19. Vivian Vachon
20. Alma Powell