Traye
A unique given name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 101 living Americans carry the first name Traye. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Traye today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Traye births was 1993 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Traye. 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
101
~ 1 in 3,393,607 Americans
Peak year
1993
15 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2015 SSA rank
#11,963
Tracked since 1982
Census
Traye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Traye, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Traye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Traye is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Two or More Races (10.4%). 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 Traye 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 Traye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.1% · 74
- Black or African American35.4% · 58
- Two or more races10.4% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 5
Popularity
Traye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Traye from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 56 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Traye remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Traye 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 Traye 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 Traye
The name Traye is a unique and relatively uncommon given name with roots tracing back to the ancient Celtic cultures of Western Europe. It is believed to be derived from the Old Irish word "tráigh," which means "shore" or "beach." This connection suggests that the name may have initially been associated with coastal regions or communities located near bodies of water.
In its earliest recorded usage, the name Traye appeared as a variant spelling of the name Tráig, found in ancient Irish texts and manuscripts dating back to the 8th century AD. These early references to the name are often tied to figures from Irish mythology and folklore, though specific details about their significance have been lost to time.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Traye was Traye mac Conall, a minor Irish chieftain from the 10th century AD who ruled over a small territory in what is now County Galway. Historical records from this period are scarce, but his name has been preserved in local genealogies and oral traditions.
During the Middle Ages, the name Traye gained some popularity among Celtic communities in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Wales. Notable figures from this era include Traye O'Doherty, a 12th-century Irish warrior and member of the powerful O'Doherty clan, and Traye ap Rhys, a 13th-century Welsh bard and poet renowned for his intricate verse compositions.
As the centuries passed, the name Traye continued to be used sporadically throughout the British Isles, with varying spellings and pronunciations. One notable bearer of the name was Traye Fitzpatrick, an Irish soldier who served in the English Civil War during the 17th century and fought alongside Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian forces.
In more recent times, the name Traye has occasionally appeared in historical records and literary works, though its usage remains relatively uncommon. One prominent example is Traye Harrington, an 18th-century English explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively throughout the Americas and documented his encounters with various indigenous tribes and wildlife.
While the name Traye may not be as widely recognized as some other Celtic-derived names, its unique origins and connections to ancient cultures and traditions make it a fascinating and intriguing choice for those seeking a name with deep historical roots.
People
Traye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Traye as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Traye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Traye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Traye 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 3,393,607 US residents.
Is Traye a common name?
We classify Traye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Traye most popular?
The single biggest year for Traye was 1993, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Traye is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Traye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Traye, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Traye 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 Traye?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Traye leans strongly male. 149 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 6 female bearers (3.9%). 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 Traye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Traye is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.4%) and Two or More Races (10.4%). 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 Traye most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Traye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.1% (74 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 Traye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Traye a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Traye 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 Traye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Traye 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 Traye 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 Americans are named Traye?
See how many people share the name Traye on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.