Craige
Anglicized form of the Scots Gaelic word creag meaning "rock, crag."
Name Census estimates that about 313 living Americans carry the first name Craige. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Craige today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Craige births was 1972 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Craige. 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.
People living today
313
~ 1 in 1,095,062 Americans
Peak year
1972
18 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2005 SSA rank
#11,775
Tracked since 1941
Census
Craige in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 353 people with the first name Craige, which placed it at #26,378 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
#26,378
National first-name rank
People counted
353
353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Craige
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Craige is White at 60.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Craige 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 Craige at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.3% · 213
- Black or African American26.9% · 95
- Two or more races4.8% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 5
Popularity
Craige: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Craige from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 102 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Craige 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 Craige during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Craige
The name Craige originates from the Scottish Gaelic language and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Gaelic word "creag," which means "rock" or "crag." This name was likely given to individuals who lived near rocky or mountainous areas in Scotland.
The earliest recorded use of the name Craige dates back to the late 1500s, when it appeared in parish records and historical documents from various regions of Scotland. One notable individual bearing this name was Craige Dalzell, a Scottish nobleman who lived in the 17th century and played a role in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
In the 18th century, the name Craige gained popularity among Scottish families, particularly in the Highlands and Lowlands. During this time, several prominent figures bore this name, including Craige Macpherson, a Scottish poet and writer born in 1710, and Craige Stewart, a Scottish soldier and military commander born in 1744.
As the Scottish diaspora spread across the globe, the name Craige also found its way to other parts of the world. In the 19th century, Craige Henderson, a Scottish-born explorer and naturalist, made significant contributions to the study of flora and fauna in Australia, where he settled in the early 1800s.
Another notable individual with the name Craige was Craige Millar, a Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist who lived from 1829 to 1917. He made his fortune in the textile industry and donated generously to various educational institutions and charitable causes in the United States.
While the name Craige has its roots in Scottish culture and history, it has also been adopted by individuals from various backgrounds and nationalities over time. Its connection to the rugged and natural landscapes of Scotland, however, remains a defining characteristic of this name's rich heritage.
People
Craige + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Craige 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
Craige: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Craige?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 313 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Craige 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 1,095,062 US residents.
Is Craige a common name?
We classify Craige as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Craige most popular?
The single biggest year for Craige was 1972, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Craige is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Craige in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 353 people with the name Craige, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,378 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 Craige 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 Craige?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Craige leans strongly male. 338 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Craige?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Craige is White at 60.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.9%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Craige most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Craige in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.3% (213 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 Craige in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Craige a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Craige 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 Craige still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Craige 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 Craige 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 have Craige as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Craige, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.