Raven
Meaning
from the bird
The story
Raven comes directly from the English name of the large black bird, a word with an Old English ancestor. Ravens appear in stories and symbolic traditions across many cultures, but no single legend supplies a universal meaning for the personal name. In modern English use, the bird image itself is the firm root. Actress and singer Raven-Symoné made the name widely familiar from childhood, first on The Cosby Show and later through her own television work, though the US curve cannot assign any part of the trend to one bearer. The display first registers in the middle of the twentieth century, rises through the 1970s and 1980s, and holds its highest band from the 1990s through the 2020s. Raven is therefore more established than many recent nature names. It is vivid, compact, and unisex in modern use, with a real word history that does not need a manufactured mystical definition.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Raven peaked in the 1990s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
41 people · the #76,244 first name in Brazil · median age 11
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Raven
Most people given the name Raven in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Raven you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Raven deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Raven truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Raven fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Raven travels
African American · A documented choice in Black American families.
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