Kraig
A masculine form of the Scottish surname Craig, derived from the Gaelic word 'creag' meaning "rock".
Name Census estimates that about 5,298 living Americans carry the first name Kraig. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kraig today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kraig births was 1968 (212 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kraig. 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 Kraig with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.3K
~ 1 in 64,695 Americans
Peak year
1968
212 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,377
Tracked since 1939
Census
Kraig in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,935 people with the first name Kraig, which placed it at #3,952 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
#3,952
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,935 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kraig
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kraig is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Kraig 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 Kraig at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.6% · 4,322
- Black or African American6.4% · 315
- Two or more races2.3% · 113
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 106
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 30
Popularity
Kraig: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kraig from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,845 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kraig 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 Kraig during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kraigs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kraig, while Virginia, Montana, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 126 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kraig
The name Kraig is a modern variant of the Scottish name Craig, which is derived from the Gaelic word "creag," meaning "rock" or "crag." This name has its origins in the rugged landscape of Scotland, where rocky crags and outcroppings are a prominent feature of the terrain.
The earliest recorded use of the name Craig dates back to the 12th century in Scotland. It was initially used as a surname, often given to families who lived near or owned land with prominent rocky features. Over time, it transitioned into a given name as well.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Craig was Sir William Craig, a Scottish knight who lived in the late 13th century. He was known for his bravery and loyalty to King Robert the Bruce during the Scottish Wars of Independence against England.
Another notable figure was John Craig, a 16th-century Scottish minister and religious reformer. He played a significant role in the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland and was a close associate of John Knox, the leader of the Scottish Reformation.
In the 17th century, Sir Thomas Craig, a Scottish jurist and writer, made significant contributions to the development of Scottish law. His work, "Jus Feudale," published in 1655, became an influential treatise on feudal law in Scotland.
Moving into the 18th century, James Craig was a renowned Scottish architect responsible for designing the layout of Edinburgh's New Town. His plan, which incorporated elements of the Enlightenment ideals of order and symmetry, remains a landmark of urban planning.
In more recent history, Daniel Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe," used the name Craig as a character in his 1720 novel, "The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe." The character, a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, was stranded on a deserted island and served as the inspiration for Defoe's famous work.
While the name Kraig is a modern variation, it retains the Scottish heritage and connection to the rugged landscape that has defined the name Craig throughout its history.
People
Kraig + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kraig as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kraig: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kraig?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,298 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kraig 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 64,695 US residents.
Is Kraig a common name?
We classify Kraig as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,951 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kraig most popular?
The single biggest year for Kraig was 1968, when 212 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kraig is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kraig in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,935 people with the name Kraig, or 1.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,952 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 Kraig 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 Kraig?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kraig appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,937 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kraig?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kraig is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Kraig most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kraig in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (4,322 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 Kraig in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kraig a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kraig 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 Kraig still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kraig 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 Kraig 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 Kraig?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.