Drake

What Drake means

Means “dragon”

As an English surname, from both senses of the noun drake meaning "male duck" and "dragon." As a German surname, from Low German drake (“dragon”), related to the above.

Source: Wiktionary, “Drake” (revision 92413804), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Drake?

US: Falling: down from #397 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1121 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2010, when 1,877 boys got the name (#196 that year). First in the US records in 1918.

How common

• About 1 in 5,713 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 54,387 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in IA (1.3 per 1,000 boys), AR (0.87 per 1,000 boys), LA (0.84 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Drake is #827 in the US and #3684 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Drake were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Drake

Boys

• Keaton#769possibly “hedge, enclosure + farmstead, settlement”^*
• Conner#864Variant of Connor, meaning “lover of hounds”^*
• Gage#973Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 2,939 babies; 235 in 2025
• Chase#192Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2009, with 7,394 babies; 1,904 in 2025
• Brady#321“broad + eye”^*
• Preston#299Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #299 vs #914 in 2025

For a sister

• Kaylee#255Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #61 in 2015, #255 in 2025
• Macy#718Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 1,483 babies; 390 in 2025
• Makenzie#700Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #210 in 2015, #700 in 2025
• Mckenzie#576Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2000, with 2,528 babies; 517 in 2025
• Kendall#328“spring + valley”^*
• Hailey#104“hay + clearing”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Drake’s. Rank is US 2025.