Drae
A masculine name with Scandinavian roots meaning "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Drae. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Drae today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drae births was 1993 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drae. 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 Drae with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
1993
11 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,196
Tracked since 1990
Census
Drae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 199 people with the first name Drae, which placed it at #38,518 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
#38,518
National first-name rank
People counted
199
199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Drae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drae is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Two or More Races (14.1%). 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 Drae 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 Drae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.7% · 87
- Black or African American26.1% · 52
- Two or more races14.1% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 4
Popularity
Drae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drae from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 52 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Drae remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Drae 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 Drae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Drae
The name Drae is a modern variant of the ancient Germanic name Draco, which means "dragon" or "serpent." It has its roots in the Proto-Indo-European word "derk," meaning "to see clearly" or "to look intently." The name Draco was popular among the ancient Romans and Greeks, who often associated it with the constellation Draco, the dragon.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Draco comes from the 7th century BC, when it was the name of an Athenian lawmaker known for his harsh and draconian laws. The name also appears in Greek mythology, where Draco was a watchman who was turned into a dragon by the goddess Athena.
In the Middle Ages, the name Draco was commonly used in various European countries, particularly in England and France. One notable bearer of the name was Draco Normannicus, a 12th-century English astronomer and mathematician.
During the Renaissance, the name Draco gained popularity among scholars and intellectuals who were fascinated by classical antiquity. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), a Danish astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial bodies.
As the name evolved over time, it took on various spellings and forms, including Drake, Dracus, and eventually, Drae. One notable bearer of the name Drae was Drae Axton (1907-1987), an American film director and screenwriter who worked in Hollywood during the Golden Age of cinema.
Other notable people named Drae include Drae Bryant (born 1984), an American professional basketball player; Drae Williamson (born 1980), an American professional football player; and Drae Zhaveri (born 1986), an Indian-American entrepreneur and investor.
While the name Drae is not as common as some other names, it has a rich history rooted in ancient mythology and astronomy, and it continues to be used as a unique and distinctive name in various parts of the world.
People
Drae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drae as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Drae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drae 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Drae a common name?
We classify Drae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drae most popular?
The single biggest year for Drae was 1993, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drae is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Drae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 199 people with the name Drae, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,518 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 Drae 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 Drae?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Drae leans strongly male. 158 people counted with this name were male (80.6%), compared with 38 female bearers (19.4%). 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 Drae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drae is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Two or More Races (14.1%). 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 Drae most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Drae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.7% (87 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 Drae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Drae a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drae 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 Drae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Drae 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 Drae 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 common is the name Drae?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.