The Craven surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 15,567 people carried this name — #2,341 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 18,900 people counted. That is up 3% from 15,149 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Craven surname

From Proto-Brythonic; equivalent to Welsh craf (“garlic”) + the suffix -an.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Craven» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a local name, from where the family lived: ‘of Craven’.

An early record he cites: Agnes de Craven, 1379 — Poll Tax, West Riding of Yorkshire.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 214 · public domain.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 10 births for the Craven name in 1890.

Most were registered in Leinster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 400 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. One of them was indexed under another spelling of the name.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born, 1890

Leinster 5
Ulster 3
Connacht 2

Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 26 people named Craven live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Buenos Aires Province 13
Tucumán 13

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Craven was found among the farmers of 3 counties.

It was most frequent in Yorkshire, West Riding: 15 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 667. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Yorkshire, West Riding 15
Lincolnshire 10
Yorkshire, North and East Ridings 10

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.

In Scotland’s registers today

Craven was recorded 13 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 1564th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

22 families named Craven, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 134 people lived in those households, 6.1 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 3 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 8
North Carolina 8
South Carolina 5
Maryland 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 235 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Craven in American newspapers,
1916–1921.

Newspaper page from The St. Mary Banner carrying the name Craven
The St. Mary Banner 1918-04-20
Newspaper page from The Sun carrying the name Craven
The Sun 1916-03-03
Newspaper page from Great Falls Tribune carrying the name Craven
Great Falls Tribune 1921-07-13

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 4,919 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Craven in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2000s.

52,249 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Craven. The most, 10,207, date from the 1910s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 17,383
Queensland 12,342
New South Wales 11,580
South Australia 6,056
Western Australia 3,871
Tasmania 649
ACT (Canberra) 320
Northern Territory 1

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Craven.

Who carried it

People named Craven,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Thomas Craven d. 1772 · politician
  • Maria Rebecca Craven d. 1746
  • Comtesse Elisabetta Maria Luigia Tadea Tadini d. 1881
  • Laura Louisa Craven d. 1925
  • Edith Maude Smallwood d. 1935
  • Margaret Campbell Smith d. 1985

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Craven,
in the records of 7 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States1,782 records

1,782 records of the Craven name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 553
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 340
  • Other U.S. records 889
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record James Everett Craven

    Born 1948; from Austin, Texas. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1968 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. Buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Texas.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Gerald S. Craven

    Born 1912 in District of Columbia. Enlisted 1942 at Baltimore, Maryland; painter from Washington, D.C. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1999, buried at Quantico National Cemetery, Virginia.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Thomas Craven

    Arrived at New York in 1885 aboard the City of Berlin from Liverpool and Queenstown, aged 33; laborer. From Shipley, England; bound for New York.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 1,782 records for Craven in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia947 records

947 records of the Craven name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 521
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 185
  • Other Australian records 241
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Charlotte Craven

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Tory, sailing from London in 1845. Native of Preston, Lancashire. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1846.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Fanny Craven

    Arrived in Victoria in 1853 aboard the Africa, aged 43; English.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Ernest Raymond Craven

    Small goods salesman of Highett, Victoria; died 1967.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 947 records for Craven in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).

Canada69 records

69 records of the Craven name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 33
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 12
  • Other Canadian records 24
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Ernest Craven

    Buried in 1988 at Burnsland Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 81.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.
  2. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Esther Craven

    Died 1937; buried at Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record George James Craven

    Died 1928 in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Showing 3 of 69 records for Craven in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

United Kingdom45 records

45 records of the Craven name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 40
  • Welsh wills index cards 3
  • Other British records 2
  1. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Caroline Craven

    Will proved in 1909; of Conway, Carnarvon.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)
  2. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Thomas Craven

    Died 1918. Named in the roll of honour (1926).

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain)
  3. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record B. Craven

    Royal Munster Fusiliers. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1919.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 45 records for Craven in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0) · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

New Zealand15 records

15 records of the Craven name in New Zealand
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 10
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 4
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 1
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Daisy Jones Craven

    Died 1976, aged 96; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Rhoda Louisa Craven

    Died 1936, aged 67; buried at Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Livre d’or of the French war dead, Paris
    Example: roll of the war dead
    War record N. Craven

    New Zealand Infantry. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)

Showing 3 of 15 records for Craven in New Zealand.

Counts: Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Livre d’or of the war dead, Paris, Ministère des pensions, Archives nationales (CC0).

Netherlands8 records

8 records of the Craven name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch population registers 4
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 4
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record James Craven

    Died 1903 in Rotterdam, aged 29.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Mary Monica Craven

    In the population register of Preston, England; born 1910 in Preston, England.

    Open Archives, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Emery Arnold Craven

    Married in 1945 in Rotterdam.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 8 records for Craven in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

Ireland2 records

2 records of the Craven name in Ireland County Galway graveyard records
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Michael Craven

    Died 1983; buried at Ballygar, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Delia Craven

    Died 1986; buried at Ballygar, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Craven.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Craven is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Craven volume
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