Tavia as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Tavia

What is the meaning of the name Tavia ?

The baby name Tavia is a girl name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced TAH-vee-ə.

Tavia is Latin, Spanish in Origin.

Tavia is a feminine short form of Octavia, the Latin feminine of Octavius, an old Roman nomen. The earliest securely attested family-name forms are Latin Octavius and Octavia, built on octavus, the ordinal adjective for eighth, from octo, eight, plus the adjectival suffix -avus. As a clipped form, Tavia preserves the final portion of Octavia rather than a separate ancient root.

Octavia belonged to the gens Octavia and is familiar through Octavia Minor, sister of Augustus and wife of Mark Antony. English records show Octavia being revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sometimes with ordinal associations; Tavia developed as an informal or standalone diminutive. It appears in American use from the mid twentieth century but has remained uncommon. Literary examples include Tavia, short for Octavia Travers, in the Dorothy Dale books, and Tavia in Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water. Cognate forms include Octavie, Ottavia, and Oktavia.