Crawford
Masculine · “ford of the crows”
Crawford is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 4,710 boys against 56 girls since 1880.
Crawford is the crow ford — the crossing where the crows were — and it is one of very few surnames that names both a bird and a river crossing.
How old is the name Crawford?
Crawford was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Crawford alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 2,300 people named Crawford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Crawford most popular?
Crawford peaked in 1896, reaching #438 nationally. Today it ranks #2091, 1,653 places below that high. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From crawe ford to Crawford
The story of Crawford
Crawford in Lanarkshire sits on the upper Clyde, and the clan took its name from the place. William Wallace's mother is said to have been a Crawford. The surname crossed to America and entered given-name use, appearing in the registers in current use.
Meaning
ford of the crows
From the Old English crawe, 'crow', and ford, a river crossing. Crawford in Lanarkshire gave the Scottish clan its name. The elements are ordinary Old English and the reading undisputed, though whether the birds or a personal name are meant is occasionally questioned.
How the name formed
- crawe ford
- Crawford
Related forms: Crawfurd · Crawford
Pronouncing Crawford
KRAW-furd
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Crawford
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191979 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #438reached in 1896
- Change vs 2022
- +11.1%70 in 2025, from 63
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.
Crawford in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Crawfurd in Scottish — spelling variant
- Crawford in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Alabama.
Crawfords among us
people named Crawford are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 24,401 born in 2025 was named Crawford
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Crawford 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 Crawford is headed
Crawford should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Crawford beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Crawford in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The crow-ford meaning is concrete and vivid.
- Ford is available as a short form with a real record.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname.
- It is period-coded to older American naming.
- Two heavy syllables against a long surname can be a lot.
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Crawford
Masculine · #2091 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Crawfords are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Crawford are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Crawford in 2025?
- Crawford ranks #2091 among US boy names in 2025, with 70 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Crawford?
- About 1 in every 24,401 US boys born in 2025 was named Crawford — 70 in all.
- Will my child share the name Crawford with classmates?
- Crawford will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Crawford
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ziaire#2091 · Mykel#2091 · Knoxx#2091 · Omer#2091 · Ahron#2091 · Brenton#2091 · Emile#2091 · Stiles#2091
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Crawford? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Crawford and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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