Mavis

Mavis is a female given name, derived from a name for the common Old World song thrush. Its first modern usage was in Marie Corelli's 1895 novel The Sorrows of Satan, which featured a character named Mavis Clare (whose name was said to be "rather odd but suitable", as "she sings quite as sweetly as any thrush"<ref>Marie Corelli 'The Sorrows of Satan 2006 Adamant Media Corporation p. 127</ref>). The name was long obsolete by the 19th century, but known from its poetic use, as in Robert Burns's 1794 poem Ca' the Yowes ("Hark the mavis evening sang/Sounding Clouden's woods amang"); and in the popular love song "Mary of Argyle" (c.1850), where lyricist Charles Jefferys wrote, "I have heard the mavis singing its love-song to the morn."Mavis had its height of popularity between the 1920s and 1940s. Its usage declined thereafter, and it has been rather unfashionable since the 1960s. Notable people Mavis Adjei, Ghanaian actress Mavis Akoto, Ghanaian sprinter Mavis Batey, MBE (1921-2013), English code-breaker during World War II Mavis Biesanz (1919–2008), Finnish-American writer and sociologist Mavis B. Carroll (1917–2009), American statistician Mavis Cheek (b. 1948), English novelist and feminist Mavis Chirandu (b. 1995), Zimbabwean footballer Mavis Thorpe Clark, AM (1909-1999), Australian novelist and children's writer Mavis Danso (b. 1984), Ghanaian footballer Mavis Doering (1929–2007), Cherokee Nation basketmaker from Oklahoma Mavis Dgajmah (b. 1973), Ghanaian footballer Mavis Ehlert (1922–2007), British-Canadian sculptor Mavis Fan (b. 1977), Taiwanese singer Mavis Freeman (1918–1988), American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics Mavis Gallant (1922–2014), Canadian writer Mavis Gibson, Zimbabwean lawyer, first black woman judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe, and first woman judge of the High Court of Namibia Mavis Gray née Beckett (b. 1944), Australian field hockey player Mavis Doriel Hay (1894–1979), British author Mavis Hee (b. 1974), Singaporean singer Mavis Hinds (1929–2009), English meteorologist Mavis Hutchinson (1924-2022), first woman to run across the United States Mavis Jones (1922–1990), Australian cricket player Mavis Jukes (b. 1947), American children's author Mavis Kelsey (1912–2013), American internist and one of the founders of the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic Mavis Hawa Koomson (b. 1966), Ghanaian politician and educationist Mavis Le Marquand, Jersey lawn bowler Mavis Leno (b.