Culver
English name from an Old English term meaning "coloured embankment or ridge."
Name Census estimates that about 64 living Americans carry the first name Culver. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Culver today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Culver births was 1916 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Culver. 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 Culver. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
64
~ 1 in 5,355,537 Americans
Peak year
1916
12 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,073
Tracked since 1915
Census
Culver in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 190 people with the first name Culver, which placed it at #39,614 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
#39,614
National first-name rank
People counted
190
190 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Culver
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Culver is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Culver 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 Culver at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 147
- Black or African American7.9% · 15
- Two or more races5.8% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Culver: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Culver from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 37 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Culver remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Culver 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 Culver 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 Culver
The name Culver is an English name with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English word "culfre," which means "dove" or "pigeon." This association with a bird may have been inspired by the gentle and peaceful nature of these creatures.
In its earliest forms, the name was often spelled as "Culver" or "Culvere." It was a common surname in medieval England, particularly in regions such as Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, where there were settlements named Culver or Culverthorpe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Culver can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The entry mentions a landowner named "Culvert" in the county of Lincolnshire.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Culver. One of the earliest was Culvert de Insula (fl. 1150), a Norman nobleman and landowner in England during the 12th century.
In the realm of literature, Culver is remembered as the name of a character in the 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The character, a young and valiant knight, plays a significant role in the Arthurian legend.
Another historical figure of note was Culver Heywood (1493-1556), an English Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of Queen Mary I for his religious beliefs.
In the 18th century, Culver Baker (1719-1786) was a prominent American silversmith and engraver who worked in Philadelphia and is known for his intricate and finely crafted pieces.
Culver Military Academy, founded in 1894 in Culver, Indiana, was named after Henry Harrison Culver (1841-1919), a prominent businessman and philanthropist who played a key role in the establishment of the institution.
While the name Culver is not as commonly used today as it once was, it has left an indelible mark on history, spanning various fields and cultures, reflecting its ancient roots and enduring legacy.
People
Culver + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Culver 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
Culver: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Culver?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 64 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Culver 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 5,355,537 US residents.
Is Culver a common name?
We classify Culver as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Culver most popular?
The single biggest year for Culver was 1916, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Culver is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Culver in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 190 people with the name Culver, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,614 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 Culver 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 Culver?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Culver leans strongly male. 176 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 15 female bearers (7.9%). 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 Culver?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Culver is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Culver most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Culver in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (147 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 Culver in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Culver a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Culver 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 Culver still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Culver 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 Culver 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 share the name Culver?
Find out how many people share the name Culver on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.