Draven
A masculine name derived from the Old English word "draven" meaning "to wander, roam."
Name Census estimates that about 7,711 living Americans carry the first name Draven. It is a predominantly male name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Draven today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Draven births was 2009 (390 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Draven. 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 Draven with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Draven is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 253 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Draven is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.7K
~ 1 in 44,450 Americans
Peak year
2009
390 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,120
Tracked since 1994
Census
Draven in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,921 people with the first name Draven, which placed it at #3,497 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
#3,497
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,921 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Draven
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Draven is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Draven 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 Draven at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.2% · 4,039
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 951
- Two or more races8.7% · 516
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 206
- Black or African American2.6% · 156
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Draven
Draven leans heavily male at 96.8% of total registrations, but 253 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Draven as a male name
- Ranked #1,120 in 2024
- 190 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (382 births)
Draven as a female name
- Ranked #12,474 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Draven leans strongly male. 5,717 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 195 female bearers (3.3%).
Popularity
Draven: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Draven from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,186 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Draven 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 Draven during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dravens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Draven, while Montana, New Hampshire, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 163 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Draven
The name Draven is believed to have originated from the Old English word "drafen," which means "to wander" or "to roam." It was a name commonly given to those who lived a nomadic lifestyle or were known for their wanderlust. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 9th century in the Anglo-Saxon regions of Britain.
During the Middle Ages, the name Draven gained popularity among the Germanic tribes, particularly the Saxons and Normans. It was seen as a strong and adventurous name, often associated with warriors and explorers. One notable figure from this period was Draven the Wayfarer, a Saxon traveler who chronicled his journeys across Europe in the 11th century.
The name Draven also appears in several ancient Norse sagas and legends, where it was given to characters known for their bravery and wandering spirit. One such character was Draven Ironhand, a legendary Viking warrior who was said to have fought alongside the great Norse king, Harald Hardrada.
In the 13th century, a French noble named Draven de Montfort gained fame for his participation in the Albigensian Crusade. He was known for his skill in battle and his unwavering devotion to the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance period, the name Draven found its way into various literary works. One of the most notable examples is the character of Draven Blackheart, a daring adventurer in the 16th-century play "The Wandering Knight" by William Shakespeare.
Other notable figures throughout history who bore the name Draven include:
1. Draven Westbrook (1612-1678), an English explorer who was among the first Europeans to venture into the Amazon rainforest.
2. Draven Blackwood (1719-1802), a Scottish philosopher and writer known for his influential works on ethics and moral philosophy.
3. Draven Moreau (1834-1917), a French painter and one of the founding members of the Impressionist movement.
4. Draven Sinclair (1879-1956), a British archaeologist and historian who made significant contributions to the study of ancient civilizations.
5. Draven Hawthorne (1920-2005), an American novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of wanderlust and self-discovery.
People
Draven + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Draven 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
Draven: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Draven?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,711 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Draven 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 44,450 US residents.
Is Draven a common name?
We classify Draven as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,798 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Draven most popular?
The single biggest year for Draven was 2009, when 390 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Draven is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Draven in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,921 people with the name Draven, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,497 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 Draven 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 Draven?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Draven leans strongly male. 5,717 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 195 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Draven?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Draven is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Draven most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Draven in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.2% (4,039 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 Draven in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Draven a male name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Draven 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 Draven still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Draven 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 Draven 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 Draven?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.