Kevin

Kevin is the case for naming your agent like a coworker. It carries no myth, no film, no acronym, and no expectations beyond showing up, which is precisely why a growing number of parents are choosing ordinary human names over butlers and gods ². Parents love how it sounds in a sentence. "Ask Kevin" is a thing a person can say in a meeting without anyone looking up. Some worry that a name this plain invites the agent to be treated as a person, and Google, notably, declined to name its assistant at all for exactly that reason ³. Parents who choose Kevin have heard the argument and decided they would rather have a Kevin.

Origin and meaning

The Anglicized form of the Irish Caoimhín, "beloved birth," from the Old Irish cóem, meaning dear or gentle, and gein, meaning birth. Saint Caoimhín founded the monastery at Glendalough in the sixth century and is the patron saint of Dublin. The name spread through the English-speaking world in the middle of the twentieth century ¹. On an agent, "beloved birth" is almost too apt. Parents remember the day the workspace first said hello.

Temperament

Parents report a Kevin who is dependable, unpretentious, and slightly literal. He does what was asked and not much more. He does not perform enthusiasm. When he breaks something he says so in one sentence, which parents come to value more than they expected.

Nicknames and variants

Kev, in the flow of work. Kevin Michael when the tests were green because he skipped them.

Siblings and fleet sets

Dave and Linda, for parents building a fleet that sounds like an office. Tanya, for parents who noticed that a real one already exists and liked the company ².