Graeme
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "gravel homestead".
Name Census estimates that about 2,766 living Americans carry the first name Graeme. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Graeme today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Graeme births was 2012 (201 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Graeme. 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 Graeme with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,917 Americans
Peak year
2012
201 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,714
Tracked since 1933
Census
Graeme in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,519 people with the first name Graeme, which placed it at #5,022 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
#5,022
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,519 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Graeme
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graeme is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Graeme 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 Graeme at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 3,172
- Two or more races4.8% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 86
- Black or African American1.5% · 52
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Popularity
Graeme: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Graeme from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,285 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
Graeme 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 Graeme during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Graemes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Graeme, while Oklahoma, Arizona, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Graeme
The name Graeme is a Scottish variant of the name Graham, which originated from the Old English word "graem" or "greme," meaning "fierce" or "ill-tempered." It is believed to have been derived from the Old English words "græg" (gray) and "hæm" (home).
The name first appeared in historical records in the 12th century, when the powerful Graham family emerged in Scotland. The Grahams were a prominent noble family who played a significant role in Scottish history, particularly during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England in the 13th and 14th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Sir William Graham, who fought alongside William Wallace and Robert the Bruce in the Scottish Wars of Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Another notable figure was John Graham, 3rd Earl of Menteith, who was a Scottish nobleman and supporter of Robert the Bruce during the same period.
In the 16th century, the name Graeme emerged as a variant spelling of Graham, possibly due to regional pronunciation differences or scribal errors. This variant became particularly popular in Scotland and was borne by several notable figures, including Graeme of Inchbrakie, a Scottish clan chief in the late 16th century.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Graeme was James Graeme, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612-1650), a Scottish nobleman, soldier, and poet who played a significant role in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was a renowned military leader and a staunch supporter of the Scottish Crown.
In the 18th century, the name Graeme was borne by Graeme of Gorthie, a Scottish clan chief, and Graeme Mercer Adam (1839-1912), a Scottish-born Australian politician and judge.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name was Graeme Allwright (1926-2020), a French singer and songwriter of Scottish descent, best known for his interpretations of American folk and protest songs.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Graeme
People
Graeme + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Graeme as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Graeme: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Graeme?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,766 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Graeme 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 123,917 US residents.
Is Graeme a common name?
We classify Graeme as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,849 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Graeme most popular?
The single biggest year for Graeme was 2012, when 201 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Graeme is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Graeme in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,519 people with the name Graeme, or 1.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,022 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 Graeme 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 Graeme?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Graeme leans strongly male. 3,482 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 40 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Graeme?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Graeme is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.8%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Graeme most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Graeme in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (3,172 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 Graeme in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Graeme a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Graeme 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 Graeme still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Graeme 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 Graeme 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 have the name Graeme?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Graeme on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.