Shraga
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "to rejoice" or "flame".
Name Census estimates that about 688 living Americans carry the first name Shraga. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shraga today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shraga births was 2023 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shraga. 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 Shraga with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
688
~ 1 in 498,189 Americans
Peak year
2023
39 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,197
Tracked since 1959
Census
Shraga in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 542 people with the first name Shraga, which placed it at #19,479 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
#19,479
National first-name rank
People counted
542
542 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shraga
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shraga is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Black (0.6%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). 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 Shraga 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 Shraga at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.0% · 531
- Black or African American0.6% · 3
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Shraga: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shraga from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 222 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shraga remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shraga 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 Shraga during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shragas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shraga
The name Shraga is a Hebrew name derived from the biblical Hebrew word "Shraga," which means "flame" or "shining." It has its roots in the ancient Near East and is closely associated with Jewish culture and tradition.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shraga can be traced back to the Talmudic era, around the 3rd to 6th centuries CE. It is mentioned in several Jewish religious texts, including the Talmud and various midrashic literature. The name was often given to Jewish children as a way to honor the wisdom and passion associated with the flame metaphor.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Shraga was Rabban Shraga, a renowned Jewish scholar and sage who lived in the 4th century CE. He is cited in the Talmud for his teachings and contributions to Jewish law and tradition.
In the Middle Ages, the name Shraga gained popularity among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. During this time, several notable figures bore the name, including Shraga Feibush Teomim (c. 1620-1670), a prominent Jewish scholar and author from Poland, and Shraga Feivel Luria (c. 1530-1619), a renowned Talmudic scholar and mystic from Poland.
Another well-known figure was Shraga Aryeh Wertheimer (1723-1801), a prominent Hungarian-Jewish financier and philanthropist who played a significant role in the emancipation of European Jewry.
In more recent times, Shraga has been the name of several influential Jewish leaders and scholars, such as Shraga Feivel Frank (1876-1957), a renowned Orthodox rabbi and Talmudic scholar from Lithuania, and Shraga Simmons (1924-2014), a prominent American-Jewish author and educator.
Throughout its long history, the name Shraga has carried a sense of wisdom, passion, and a connection to the Jewish faith and tradition. While its usage may have fluctuated over time, it remains a significant name within the Jewish community, serving as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage and spiritual values associated with its meaning.
People
Shraga + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shraga as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shraga: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shraga?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 688 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shraga 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 498,189 US residents.
Is Shraga a common name?
We classify Shraga as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 698 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shraga most popular?
The single biggest year for Shraga was 2023, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shraga is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shraga in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 542 people with the name Shraga, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,479 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 Shraga 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 Shraga?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shraga appears almost entirely male. Of the 538 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Shraga?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shraga is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Black (0.6%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). 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 Shraga most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shraga in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.0% (531 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 Shraga in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shraga a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shraga 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 Shraga still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shraga 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 Shraga 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 Shraga?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.