Draven
Masculine
Draven is given to both — 7,715 boys and 253 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Draven arrives in American records in step with the film The Crow, whose avenging hero is named Eric Draven — a surname-shaped name that walked off a comic page and onto birth certificates. It reads on sight, rhyming cleanly with raven and haven, and the dr- opening puts it in company with Drake and Drew. Two syllables, stress on the first, and no one has to ask twice how to say it.
How old is the name Draven?
Draven first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Draven alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 7,600 people named Draven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Draven most popular?
Draven peaked in 2005, reaching #637 nationally. Today it ranks #1217, 580 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Draven appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Draven
Draven begins as a surname before it is a first name — a rare one, of the kind English families carried for centuries without leaving much of a paper trail behind it. It reached American parents through fiction: James O'Barr's comic The Crow, and the film made from it, whose resurrected hero is Eric Draven, played by Brandon Lee. The name entered the US charts the same year that film reached theaters and has kept a steady footing ever since, well after the moment that introduced it. A second wave of recognition came from gaming, where Draven is the name of a League of Legends champion released in the early 2010s.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No established meaning. Draven appears as a rare English surname, and surnames of this shape often trace to a place or a father's name — but no one has documented which, for this one. The widely repeated online gloss of 'hunter' or 'child of the hunter' has no source behind it. What is documented is the name's arrival: James O'Barr's comic The Crow gave its central character the name Eric Draven, and the film adaptation carried it to a wide audience.
Pronouncing Draven
DRAY-ven
Rhymes with raven. Stress falls on the first syllable, and the spelling gives it away on first read — misreadings are rare.
Nicknames for Draven
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
- 1994
- Most boys named
- 2009382 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #637reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −13.5%166 in 2025, from 192
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.
Draven in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, California.
Dravens among us
people named Draven are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,290 born in 2025 was named Draven
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 Destry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Draven's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Destry climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Destry's path sketches the road Draven is walking now.
Draven 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 Draven is headed
Draven should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Draven beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Draven in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds: anyone who can read 'raven' can read Draven, so it survives roll call, voicemail and paperwork without correction.
- Two syllables with front stress, which sits easily before most surnames and against longer middle names.
- Familiar enough to be recognized without being repeated in a classroom — most Dravens go through school as the only one.
- Represented across quite different parts of the country, from Texas to Ohio to California, rather than pinned to one region.
- Holds a level line in the records rather than spiking and vanishing, so it doesn't read as tied to a single season.
- The name is bound to The Crow, and to a lesser degree to a League of Legends champion. Plenty of people will hear the reference; some will mention it. That fades with distance from the film, but it is the first thing many adults will think of.
- No settled meaning exists. If a meaning is part of what you want a name to carry, this one gives you the sound and the story instead — and any dictionary claiming 'hunter' is repeating an invention.
- Close cousins in sound — Raven, Craven, Drayton — mean it can be misheard over the phone, and variant spellings like Drayven and Draiven circulate, so occasional correcting comes with it.
- Its bearers skew young. A Draven meeting other Dravens will mostly meet people near his own age, which cuts both ways depending on whether you want a name with older generations behind it.
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What they receive
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Draven
Masculine · #1217 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dravens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,600 people named Draven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Draven in 2025?
- Draven ranks #1217 among US boy names in 2025, with 166 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Draven?
- About 1 in every 10,290 US boys born in 2025 was named Draven — 166 in all.
- Will my child share the name Draven with classmates?
- Draven will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Draven
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Syed#1217 · Jahziel#1217 · Luan#1217 · Gino#1217 · Kolby#1222 · Wiley#1222 · Bilal#1212 · Harlow#1212
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Draven? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Draven and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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