Raven
Masculine · “raven”
Raven is given to both — 3,333 boys and 44,920 girls since 1880. See Raven as a girl nameSee other names given to both
The raven is the largest of the crows and among the most intelligent animals anyone has tested — it makes tools, remembers individual human faces and appears to hold grudges. The name is the bird, plainly, and the bird deserves it.
How old is the name Raven?
Raven first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Raven alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 3,200 people named Raven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raven most popular?
Raven peaked in 1999, reaching #809 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 2,132 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Where it comes from
From hraefn to Raven
The story of Raven
Ravens follow armies and clean up afterwards, which is why they appear across northern European writing attached to war and to prophecy — Odin's two birds, Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory, who fly out each morning and bring him the news; the raven banner carried on Viking ships. In the book of Genesis Noah sends out a raven before the dove and it does not return. Old Norse used Hrafn as a personal name outright, and English made a surname of the bird; the modern American use is recent and given to sons and daughters alike.
Meaning
raven, the bird
Old English hraefn, the bird, and the same word gives Old Norse hrafn, which was an ordinary man's name in Iceland and Norway. The English surname Raven comes from the byname, given for dark coloring or for some resemblance in manner. The reading is exact and undisputed.
How the name formed
- hraefn
- Raven
Related forms: Hrafn · Hrafn · Rabe
Pronouncing Raven
RAY-vun
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. There is nothing in the sound anyone gets wrong; every English speaker knows the word.
Nicknames for Raven
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
- 1921
- Most boys named
- 2000173 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #809reached in 1999
- Change vs 2023
- −2.3%42 in 2025, from 43
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.
Raven in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hrafn in Old Norse — related form
- Hrafn in Icelandic — same name
- Rabe in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ravens among us
people named Raven are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Raven
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 Jaimie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raven's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaimie climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaimie's path sketches the road Raven is walking now.
Raven 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 Raven is headed
Raven 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.
Raven beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raven in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Said and spelled correctly by every English speaker without being told.
- A genuine Old Norse personal name as well as an English word, so it has real precedent.
- The bird itself is genuinely remarkable, which gives the name something solid behind it.
- In the United States it is given to daughters more often than sons, which a boy will meet on paper.
- The literary associations are dark — battlefields, omens, a famous poem — and they arrive with the name.
- Raven and Rayven both circulate and the spelling gets asked for.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Raven to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Raven
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ravens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Raven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Raven in 2025?
- Raven ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raven?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Raven — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raven with classmates?
- Raven will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raven
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Prescott#2941 · Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raven? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raven and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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