Kramer
Masculine · “German Kramer”
Kramer is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 508 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
German surnames are overwhelmingly occupational, more so than English ones. Schmidt is a smith, Muller a miller, Schneider a tailor, Weber a weaver, Fischer a fisherman, Wagner a cartwright, Becker a baker. Kramer is the shopkeeper, the man with the stall.
How old is the name Kramer?
Kramer first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Kramer alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 500 people named Kramer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kramer most popular?
Kramer peaked in 1989, reaching #1308 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,602 places below that high. See the whole 1989 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kram to Kramer
The story of Kramer
German surnames became hereditary later than English ones and were fixed at a time when town life was already well developed, which is why the occupational layer is so dominant and so specific. Beyond the obvious trades there are Zimmermann the carpenter, Schuhmacher the shoemaker, Schaefer the shepherd, Koch the cook, Fleischer the butcher, Gerber the tanner, Kellner the cellarman, Bauer the farmer. Kramer sits among them as the retailer, distinguished from the Kaufmann, who was a merchant of substance, and from the Hausierer, who peddled door to door; a Kramer had a fixed stall in a market. The distinction mattered enough to produce three surnames. English by comparison collapsed most trade into Chapman and Merchant, which is why the English occupational surnames are fewer and blunter than the German ones.
Meaning
German Kramer, a shopkeeper or pedlar
Kramer is a German occupational surname from Middle High German kram, a stall, tent or pack of goods, giving a small trader or pedlar. Written properly it carries an umlaut on the a, which American records drop. The Dutch cognate Kremer and the Yiddish Kramer produce the same American spelling from different communities. The American peak of the given name is 1989.
How the name formed
- kram
- Kramer
Related forms: Kramer · Kremer · Kraemer
Pronouncing Kramer
KRAY-mur
Two syllables, stress on the first. German says KRAH-mer with the umlaut, closer to KREH-mer. Americans use the long a of name.
Nicknames for Kramer
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 198970 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1308reached in 1989
- Change vs 2020
- +33.3%8 in 2025, from 6
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.
Kramer in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kramer in German — same name
- Kremer in Dutch — related form
- Kraemer in English — spelling variant
Kramers among us
people named Kramer are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Kramer
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 Pasqual test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kramer's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pasqual climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pasqual's path sketches the road Kramer is walking now.
Kramer 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
Kramer beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kramer in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine German surname with a transparent meaning.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The surname-as-first-name pattern is well established.
- A very well-known television character carries the name.
- The umlaut is lost in American spelling.
- It reads clearly as a surname.
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Kramer
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kramers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Kramer are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kramer in 2025?
- Kramer ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kramer?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Kramer — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kramer with classmates?
- Kramer will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kramer
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kramer? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kramer and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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