Crew
A name derived from the occupation referring to a group of people.
Name Census estimates that about 11,134 living Americans carry the first name Crew. It sits at #250 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Crew today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Crew births was 2024 (1,418 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Crew. 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 Crew with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Crew is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 61 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Crew is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,784 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,418 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#250
Tracked since 1995
Census
Crew in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,629 people with the first name Crew, which placed it at #4,145 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
#4,145
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,629 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Crew
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crew is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Crew 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 Crew at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.0% · 4,118
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 224
- Two or more races4.4% · 203
- Black or African American0.9% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Crew
Out of the 11,214 babies given the name Crew since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Crew as a male name
- Ranked #250 in 2024
- 1,413 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,413 births)
Crew as a female name
- Ranked #15,748 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Crew appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,633 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Crew: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Crew from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 6,632 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
Crew 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 Crew during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Crews live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Utah, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Crew, while Wyoming, Rhode Island, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 219 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Crew
The given name Crew has its origins in the Old English language, stemming from the word "crew" which referred to a group of people working together, particularly on a ship or boat. It was initially used as a descriptive term for someone who was part of such a crew or group.
In the early medieval period, around the 5th to 11th centuries, the name Crew began to emerge as a personal name in parts of England. It was often given to individuals who worked on ships or were involved in maritime activities, reflecting their occupation or association with a particular crew.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Crew can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is listed among landowners and tenants, suggesting its use as a given name during that period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Crew continued to be used, particularly in coastal regions of England where seafaring and maritime activities were prevalent. It was a name that carried a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, reflecting the close-knit nature of ship crews.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Crew include Sir Crew Curzon (1572-1625), an English politician and member of Parliament during the reign of King James I. Another individual of note was Crew Davies (1667-1728), a Welsh clergyman and author who wrote extensively on religious subjects.
In the 18th century, the name Crew gained some prominence with the birth of Crew Garnett (1741-1808), a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War. His son, Crew Garnett Jr. (1786-1850), also followed in his footsteps and had a distinguished naval career.
Moving into the 19th century, we find Crew Shipley (1808-1879), an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio.
While the name Crew has maintained a presence throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon as a given name compared to more popular choices. Its origins and association with maritime activities and teamwork, however, have contributed to its enduring significance and unique character.
People
Crew + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Crew 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
Crew: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Crew?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,134 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Crew 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 30,784 US residents.
Is Crew a common name?
We classify Crew as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,214 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Crew most popular?
The single biggest year for Crew was 2024, when 1,418 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Crew is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Crew in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,629 people with the name Crew, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,145 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 Crew 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 Crew?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Crew appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,633 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Crew?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Crew is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Crew most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Crew in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (4,118 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 Crew in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Crew a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Crew 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 Crew still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Crew 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 Crew 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 Crew?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Crew, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.