The surname Cavett made its first and only appearance in the U.S. baby name data in the early 1970s:
- 1975: unlisted
- 1974: unlisted
- 1973: 5 baby boys named Cavett [debut]
- 1972: unlisted
- 1971: unlisted
What put it there?
My guess is Dick Cavett, host of The Dick Cavett Show.
Different versions of Cavett’s Emmy-winning talk show were broadcast on television from the late ’60s to the early 2000s, but the most popular incarnation aired late-night on ABC — opposite Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show on NBC — from 1969 to 1974.
What differentiated Cavett from Carson? Cavett had a more intellectual approach to comedy, and also interviewed a wider range of guests — not just movie stars and musicians, but also filmmakers, athletes, authors, journalists, politicians, activists, scientists, artists, and so forth. Cavett’s guests included Alfred Hitchcock, Arthur C. Clarke, Bobby Fischer, Christiaan Barnard, Harland Sanders, Hugh Hefner, Jackie Robinson, Jacques Cousteau, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon (and Yoko Ono), Louis Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Orson Welles, and Salvador Dalí.
Cavett’s Scottish surname was derived from a similar French surname, Cavet, which originally referred to either someone who worked with a cavet (a type of hoe) or someone who lived near or in a cave.
What are your thoughts on Cavett as a first name?
Sources:
- The Dick Cavett Show – Wikipedia
- The Dick Cavett Show – Emmy Awards, Nominations and Wins – Television Academy
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- SSA
Image: Screenshot of The Dick Cavett Show
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