Drakkar
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from the Old Norse word "draki", meaning dragon.
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Drakkar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Drakkar today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drakkar births was 1991 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drakkar. 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
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
1991
20 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2012 SSA rank
#12,776
Tracked since 1987
Census
Drakkar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 102 people with the first name Drakkar, which placed it at #53,122 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
#53,122
National first-name rank
People counted
102
102 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Drakkar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drakkar is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Drakkar 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 Drakkar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.3% · 87
- Two or more races7.8% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 4
- White2.9% · 3
Popularity
Drakkar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drakkar from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 110 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Drakkar 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 Drakkar 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 Drakkar
Drakkar is a name of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse word "drakkr," which means "dragon ship" or "longship." These vessels were a crucial part of Viking naval warfare and exploration during the 8th to 11th centuries. The name likely emerged as a metaphorical reference to the strength, power, and fearlessness associated with these formidable ships and their crews.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Drakkar can be traced back to ancient Norse sagas and historical accounts of Viking explorations and battles. One notable figure bearing this name was Drakkar Úlfsson, a renowned Viking warrior and explorer who sailed to Greenland and North America in the late 10th century, predating the voyages of Christopher Columbus by nearly five centuries.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Drakkar gained popularity among Scandinavian nobility and warrior clans, signifying a connection to the region's rich maritime heritage and the fearless spirit of the Vikings. One such individual was Drakkar Eriksson, a Norwegian chieftain and navigator who led expeditions to Iceland and Greenland in the 11th century.
As the Viking Age waned and the Scandinavian cultures evolved, the name Drakkar became less common but still carried symbolic weight. In the 15th century, Drakkar Olafsson was a renowned Icelandic poet and scholar, renowned for his contributions to Norse literature and preserving the oral traditions of his ancestors.
In more recent times, the name Drakkar has experienced a resurgence, albeit on a smaller scale. Drakkar Sigurdsson was an Icelandic explorer and mountaineer who led several expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions in the early 20th century, carrying on the spirit of adventure and exploration that the name evokes.
While not as prevalent as in its heyday, the name Drakkar remains a powerful symbol of the Vikings' legacy, conjuring images of mighty longships, fearless explorers, and the untamed spirit of the Nordic seafarers who ventured into uncharted waters and left an indelible mark on history.
People
Drakkar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drakkar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Drakkar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drakkar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drakkar 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Drakkar a common name?
We classify Drakkar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 142 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drakkar most popular?
The single biggest year for Drakkar was 1991, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drakkar is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Drakkar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 102 people with the name Drakkar, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,122 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 Drakkar 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 Drakkar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Drakkar appears almost entirely male. Of the 107 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Drakkar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drakkar is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Drakkar most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Drakkar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (87 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 Drakkar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Drakkar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drakkar 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 Drakkar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Drakkar 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 Drakkar 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 called Drakkar?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.