Cruze
A modern invented name possibly derived from the English word "cruise".
Name Census estimates that about 817 living Americans carry the first name Cruze. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cruze today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cruze births was 2013 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cruze. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cruze with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
817
~ 1 in 419,528 Americans
Peak year
2013
80 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,049
Tracked since 1989
Census
Cruze in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 673 people with the first name Cruze, which placed it at #16,669 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,669
National first-name rank
People counted
673
673 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cruze
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cruze is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.7%) and Black (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cruze described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cruze at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.9% · 430
- Hispanic or Latino22.7% · 153
- Black or African American6.1% · 41
- Two or more races5.2% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
Popularity
Cruze: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cruze from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 530 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cruze remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cruze by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cruze during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cruzes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Cruze, while Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cruze
The given name Cruze has its origins in the Spanish language and culture. It is believed to have derived from the Spanish word "cruz," which means "cross" in English. This name is closely associated with the Christian faith and symbolism.
The cross has been a significant symbol in Christianity since ancient times, representing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As such, the name Cruze may have been initially used by Spanish families with deep religious beliefs and ties to the Catholic Church.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cruze dates back to the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Historical records show that there were individuals with this name among the Spanish explorers and settlers who arrived in the New World.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cruze. One of the most prominent was Cruze Díaz de Mendoza (1508-1580), a Spanish conquistador and explorer who played a significant role in the conquest of New Spain (present-day Mexico) under Hernán Cortés.
Another historical figure with the name Cruze was Cruze Sánchez de Ávila (1549-1623), a Spanish Catholic priest and missionary who traveled to the Americas and established several missions in what is now the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
During the 17th century, Cruze Fernández de Córdoba (1592-1666) was a renowned Spanish military officer who served in the Thirty Years' War and became Governor of the Duchy of Milan.
In the 18th century, Cruze de Bourbon (1718-1798) was a member of the Spanish royal family and an influential figure in the Court of King Charles III.
More recently, in the 20th century, Cruze Cuenca (1920-1999) was a prominent Spanish painter and sculptor known for his abstract works and contributions to the avant-garde art movement in Spain.
While the name Cruze has its roots in the Spanish language and culture, it has also been adopted by other Spanish-speaking countries and communities around the world, carrying with it the rich historical and religious significance associated with the cross.
People
Cruze + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cruze as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cruze: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cruze?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 817 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cruze going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 419,528 US residents.
Is Cruze a common name?
We classify Cruze as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 824 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cruze most popular?
The single biggest year for Cruze was 2013, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cruze is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cruze in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 673 people with the name Cruze, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,669 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cruze in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cruze?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cruze leans strongly male. 643 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 33 female bearers (4.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cruze?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cruze is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.7%) and Black (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cruze most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cruze in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (430 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cruze in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cruze a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cruze in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cruze still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cruze in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cruze can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Cruze?
Want to know how many people share the name Cruze? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.