Cramer
A masculine German name, likely derived from the Middle High German word "kram" meaning "shopkeeper" or "merchant."
Name Census estimates that about 36 living Americans carry the first name Cramer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cramer today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cramer births was 1989 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cramer. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cramer. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
36
~ 1 in 9,520,954 Americans
Peak year
1989
14 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1994 SSA rank
#7,094
Tracked since 1918
Census
Cramer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 136 people with the first name Cramer, which placed it at #47,733 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
#47,733
National first-name rank
People counted
136
136 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cramer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cramer is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Cramer 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 Cramer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.6% · 115
- Two or more races5.9% · 8
- Black or African American3.7% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 3
Popularity
Cramer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cramer from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 20 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cramer 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 Cramer 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 Cramer
The name Cramer is of German origin, derived from the occupational surname "Kramer," which means "trader" or "merchant." It is believed to have originated in the 13th or 14th century, when the mercantile trade flourished in German-speaking regions of Europe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Cramer can be traced back to the 15th century, where it appeared in various historical records and documents from Germany and neighboring areas. One notable individual bearing this name was Gabriel Cramer, a renowned Swiss mathematician and philosopher born in 1704. He is best known for his contributions to the field of algebra and for Cramer's rule, a method for solving systems of linear equations.
Another prominent figure in history with the name Cramer was Marc Cramer, a Dutch Golden Age painter born in 1613. He was known for his still-life paintings and landscapes, and his works are displayed in several museums across Europe.
In the 19th century, Cramer gained recognition as the surname of Walter Cramer, an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Representative from Connecticut from 1857 to 1859. He was also a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Cramer in more recent history is Ralph Cramer, an American actor and director born in 1923. He is best known for his roles in several television series and films, including "The Odd Couple" and "Soap."
Lastly, it is worth mentioning Florian Cramer, a contemporary German writer, artist, and curator born in 1975. He is known for his works exploring the intersections between art, technology, and culture, and has published several books and articles on these topics.
While the name Cramer has its roots in the German language and occupational history, it has since been adopted and used across various cultures and regions, with individuals bearing this name making significant contributions in fields as diverse as mathematics, art, politics, and entertainment.
People
Cramer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cramer 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
Cramer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cramer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 36 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cramer 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 9,520,954 US residents.
Is Cramer a common name?
We classify Cramer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 55 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cramer most popular?
The single biggest year for Cramer was 1989, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cramer is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cramer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 136 people with the name Cramer, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,733 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 Cramer 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 Cramer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cramer leans strongly male. 127 people counted with this name were male (92.0%), compared with 11 female bearers (8.0%). 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 Cramer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cramer is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Cramer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cramer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (115 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 Cramer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cramer a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cramer 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 Cramer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cramer 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 Cramer 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 the name Cramer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.