Fraser
Masculine
Fraser is the Scottish spelling of a surname whose origin nobody has established, and the family that carries it is one of the great Highland houses. The strawberries on their arms are a pun made up long after the name existed.
How old is the name Fraser?
Fraser first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Fraser alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 400 people named Fraser are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fraser most popular?
Fraser peaked in 1937, reaching #2332 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 3,276 places below that high. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From de Fresel to Fraser
The story of Fraser
The Frasers went north into Scotland in the twelfth century and became lords of Lovat and of Philorth; Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, was the last man beheaded in Britain, in 1747, for the Jacobite rising. A different Simon Fraser, the fur trader, followed the river that bears his name to the Pacific in 1808 and gave British Columbia its principal waterway. The surname is common across Scotland, Canada and Australia. Its use as an American given name is small, peaking in 1937, and the Fraser spelling is the Scottish one while Frazier is the American.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The origin is genuinely unknown. The family appears in twelfth-century Scotland as de Fresel and de Friselle, apparently an Anglo-Norman territorial name from a place that has never been identified. The strawberry flowers on the Fraser arms are a canting pun on French fraise and were adopted long after; they are not the source. No reliable derivation has been produced.
How the name formed
- de Fresel
- Fraser
Related forms: Friseal · Frazier
Pronouncing Fraser
FRAY-zer
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a plain z in Scotland. The American Frazier is often FRAY-zher with the s of measure, which is the main difference between the two spellings.
Nicknames for Fraser
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 202422 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2332reached in 1937
- Change vs 2024
- −27.3%16 in 2025, from 22
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.
Fraser in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Friseal in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Frazier in English — spelling variant
Frasers among us
people named Fraser are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Fraser
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 Theordore test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fraser's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Theordore climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Theordore's path sketches the road Fraser is walking now.
Fraser 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
Fraser beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fraser in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a genuine and prominent Scottish clan.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- It has real Canadian history attached through the river and the explorer.
- The meaning is genuinely unknown, and the strawberry story is an invention.
- Fraser, Frazier, Frasier and Frazer are four spellings of one name.
- It reads as a surname on every form.
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What they receive
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Fraser
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Frasers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Fraser are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fraser in 2025?
- Fraser ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fraser?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Fraser — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fraser with classmates?
- Fraser will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fraser
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fraser? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Fraser and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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