Graves
An English name likely derived from the French word "grave" meaning "dignified" or "solemn".
Name Census estimates that about 51 living Americans carry the first name Graves. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Graves today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Graves births was 2024 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Graves. 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 Graves. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
51
~ 1 in 6,720,673 Americans
Peak year
2024
11 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,383
Tracked since 1887
Census
Graves in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 141 people with the first name Graves, which placed it at #46,868 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
#46,868
National first-name rank
People counted
141
141 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Graves
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graves is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.4%). 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 Graves 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 Graves at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 113
- Black or African American16.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
- Two or more races0.7% · 1
Popularity
Graves: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Graves from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 33 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
Graves 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 Graves 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 Graves
The name Graves originated from the Old English word 'graef', which meant a trench, ditch, or pit dug into the ground. It was likely given as a surname to someone who lived near such a geographical feature or whose occupation involved digging or maintaining trenches.
During the Middle Ages, the name Graves began to be used as a first name, particularly among the English nobility and gentry. One of the earliest recorded instances of Graves as a first name dates back to the 12th century, when a knight named Graves de Montfort was mentioned in historical records from the Norman conquest of England.
In the 13th century, a Franciscan friar named Graves of Tewkesbury was noted for his scholarly works on theology and philosophy. His treatises on the nature of the soul and the existence of God were widely read and discussed in academic circles of the time.
In the 15th century, Graves Shotten, a wealthy merchant from Bristol, England, was renowned for his philanthropic efforts. He funded the construction of a hospital and a school for underprivileged children in his hometown.
During the English Renaissance, the name Graves gained popularity among the artistic and literary circles. Graves Peele, a playwright and poet, was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and is credited with influencing the Bard's early works.
In the 18th century, Graves Chamney, a renowned explorer and naturalist, documented his discoveries and observations from his travels across the British colonies in the Americas. His detailed accounts of the flora and fauna of the New World were instrumental in advancing the study of natural history at the time.
People
Graves + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Graves as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Graves: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Graves?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Graves 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 6,720,673 US residents.
Is Graves a common name?
We classify Graves as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 120 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Graves most popular?
The single biggest year for Graves was 2024, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Graves is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Graves in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 141 people with the name Graves, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,868 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 Graves 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 Graves?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Graves leans strongly male. 116 people counted with this name were male (85.9%), compared with 19 female bearers (14.1%). 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 Graves?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graves is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.4%). 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 Graves most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Graves in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (113 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 Graves in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Graves a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Graves 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 Graves still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Graves 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 Graves 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 Graves?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.