Drayden
An invented masculine name possibly originating from ancient English or Welsh roots.
Name Census estimates that about 2,111 living Americans carry the first name Drayden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Drayden today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Drayden births was 2012 (168 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Drayden. 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 Drayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Drayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 162,366 Americans
Peak year
2012
168 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,421
Tracked since 1999
Census
Drayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,573 people with the first name Drayden, which placed it at #9,014 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
#9,014
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,573 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Drayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drayden is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Hispanic (13.9%). 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 Drayden 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 Drayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.4% · 699
- Black or African American23.0% · 362
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 219
- Two or more races13.5% · 213
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 38
Popularity
Drayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Drayden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,187 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Drayden 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 Drayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Draydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Drayden, while Mississippi, Maryland, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Drayden
The name Drayden is an English name that originated in the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English word "draeg," which means "to draw or pull." The name is believed to have been initially used as a surname for someone who operated a drawbridge or worked with a cart or plow.
One of the earliest known records of the name Drayden dates back to the 13th century. In 1273, a man named William Drayden was recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, England. This suggests that the name was in use as a surname at that time and may have later transitioned into a given name.
The name Drayden does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records as a given name. However, its Old English root word, "draeg," was commonly used in various contexts during the Anglo-Saxon period.
One of the earliest known individuals with the first name Drayden was Drayden Whitehead, an English poet and playwright born in 1560. He is best known for his works "The Merry Muses of Caledonia" and "The Shepherd's Garland."
Another notable figure was Sir Drayden Wilkins, an English mathematician and philosopher born in 1614. He made significant contributions to the field of optics and was one of the founders of the Royal Society in London.
In the 18th century, Drayden Bolingbroke was a prominent English politician and philosopher born in 1678. He served as Secretary of State for Queen Anne and was known for his works on political theory and philosophy.
Moving into the 19th century, Drayden Coleridge was an English poet and literary critic born in 1810. He was the son of the famous Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and was known for his own poetic works and literary criticism.
Lastly, Drayden Browning was an English artist and illustrator born in 1865. He was renowned for his intricate etchings and drawings, which often depicted scenes from literature and mythology.
While these are just a few examples, the name Drayden has had a presence throughout English history, primarily associated with writers, artists, and intellectuals. Its Old English roots and origins as a surname have contributed to its unique and distinctive character as a given name.
People
Drayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Drayden 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
Drayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Drayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Drayden 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 162,366 US residents.
Is Drayden a common name?
We classify Drayden as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,129 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Drayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Drayden was 2012, when 168 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Drayden is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Drayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,573 people with the name Drayden, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,014 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 Drayden 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 Drayden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Drayden appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,569 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Drayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Drayden is White at 44.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Hispanic (13.9%). 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 Drayden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Drayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.4% (699 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 Drayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Drayden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Drayden 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 Drayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Drayden 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 Drayden 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 Drayden?
You can see how many Americans are named Drayden on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.