Craig
Masculine · “a rock”
Craig is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 299,616 boys against 1,012 girls since 1880. See Craig as a girl name
Every curling stone in the world comes from one island. Ailsa Craig is a plug of granite standing in the Firth of Clyde, uninhabited except by gannets, and its stone is so free of the tiny cracks that let water in and split a stone in frost that the sport has never found an acceptable substitute.
How old is the name Craig?
Craig first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Craig alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 245,000 people named Craig are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Craig most popular?
Craig peaked in 1969, reaching #39 nationally. Today it ranks #1644, 1,605 places below that high. See the whole 1969 chart.
Craig appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From a Gaelic word for a rock to Craig
The story of Craig
The island is quarried rarely and carefully, and the stones are made from two kinds of its granite: a hard one for the running band that touches the ice and a softer one for the body. A curling stone lasts decades, and the world supply comes from a rock two miles round that was for centuries chiefly known as a landmark for sailors and a nesting site. It also gave Glasgow a phrase — a thing described as Ailsa Craig is enormous — and the island has been for sale more than once, which is a strange thing to be able to say about the source of an Olympic sport's equipment.
Meaning
a rock, a crag
The word is Gaelic and it means exactly what it looks like: a rock or a steep outcrop. It became a Scottish surname for people who lived by one, and then a first name — but not until the twentieth century, which is worth knowing, because it means every Craig alive is part of a single wave that began in the 1940s and had run its course by the 1980s.
How the name formed
- a Gaelic word for a rock
- Scottish surnames for people living by one
- an island of granite supplies the world's curling stones
- the surname becomes a first name in the twentieth century
- an American peak at the end of the 1960s
Related forms: Creag · Kraig
Pronouncing Craig
KRAYG
One syllable, rhyming with vague. Scots give the vowel a slightly shorter value than most Americans do, and nobody has ever been misunderstood.
Nicknames for Craig
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 196010,724 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #39reached in 1969
- Change vs 2022
- −15.7%102 in 2025, from 121
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Craig in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Creag in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Kraig in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, California.
Craigs among us
people named Craig are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,746 born in 2025 was named Craig
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Danny test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Craig's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Danny climbed just as high around 1947, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Danny's path sketches the road Craig is walking now.
Craig sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Craig is headed
Craig is easing off slowly — about 24% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Craig beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Craig in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, one syllable, and impossible to misspell once heard.
- The meaning is concrete and easy to picture, which most surname-names lack.
- It works for a child of either sex, though the record leans heavily one way.
- It is one of the most precisely dated names of the last century and places its bearer immediately.
- There is nothing to shorten and nothing to lengthen.
- It is stepping back sharply from its peak, so it reads as a father's name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Craig to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Craig? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Craig
Masculine · #1644 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Craigs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 245,000 people named Craig are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Craig in 2025?
- Craig ranks #1644 among US boy names in 2025, with 102 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Craig?
- About 1 in every 16,746 US boys born in 2025 was named Craig — 102 in all.
- Will my child share the name Craig with classmates?
- Craig will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Craig
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nikola#1644 · Reynaldo#1644 · Eamon#1644 · Woodrow#1644 · Elvin#1644 · Levon#1644 · Marcelino#1644 · Daemon#1644
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Craig? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Craig and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle