Carver
One who carves, derived from the occupation of shaping wood or stone.
Name Census estimates that about 2,888 living Americans carry the first name Carver. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Carver today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carver births was 2018 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carver. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Carver with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Carver is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 86 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Carver is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 118,682 Americans
Peak year
2018
153 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,478
Tracked since 1912
Census
Carver in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,252 people with the first name Carver, which placed it at #6,943 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,943
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,252 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carver
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carver is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Carver described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Carver at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.2% · 1,715
- Black or African American11.3% · 254
- Two or more races6.6% · 148
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 96
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Carver
Carver leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 86 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carver as a male name
- Ranked #1,478 in 2024
- 122 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (143 births)
Carver as a female name
- Ranked #9,027 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carver leans strongly male. 2,163 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 91 female bearers (4.0%).
Popularity
Carver: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carver from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,250 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Carver remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carver by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Carver during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carvers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Iowa, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Carver, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carver
The name Carver is derived from the Old English word "ceorfan," which means "to cut" or "to carve." It originated in medieval England and was initially an occupational surname given to those who worked as carpenters, woodcarvers, or sculptors.
The name's earliest recorded use as a given name dates back to the 13th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Carver of Ely, a 13th-century English sculptor renowned for his intricate stone carvings adorning the Cathedral of Ely.
In the 15th century, the name gained prominence through George Carver, a Flemish artist and woodcarver whose detailed woodcarvings decorated churches and cathedrals across Europe. His artistic legacy influenced generations of woodcarvers and contributed to the name's association with craftsmanship and artistry.
During the Renaissance, the name Carver was further popularized by Italian sculptors and artists, such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), who was revered for his masterful marble carvings and sculptures adorning churches and public spaces in Rome.
In the 18th century, the name gained historical significance with the life of George Washington Carver (1864-1943), an American agricultural scientist, inventor, and educator. Carver made numerous contributions to the agricultural industry through his innovative work with peanuts and other crops, earning him recognition as one of the most prominent African American figures of his time.
Another notable figure with the name Carver was Raymond Carver (1938-1988), an American short story writer and poet renowned for his minimalist and realistic writing style. His works, such as "Cathedral" and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," have had a lasting impact on contemporary literature.
Throughout history, the name Carver has been associated with creativity, craftsmanship, and a deep appreciation for the natural world. It has been carried by artists, sculptors, writers, and scientists who have left an indelible mark on their respective fields.
People
Carver + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carver as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Carver: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carver?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,888 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carver going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 118,682 US residents.
Is Carver a common name?
We classify Carver as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carver most popular?
The single biggest year for Carver was 2018, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carver is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carver in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,252 people with the name Carver, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,943 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Carver in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Carver?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carver leans strongly male. 2,163 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 91 female bearers (4.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Carver?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carver is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Carver most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carver in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (1,715 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Carver in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carver a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Carver in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Carver still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carver in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Carver can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Carver?
Want to know how many people share the name Carver? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.