Given name & surname
Graves
“from the burial ground”
Graves is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the burial ground.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the burial ground.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1887. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Graves through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 125
- 125 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,679 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,679 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 135 as a first name in 2020; 80,533 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Graves’s family of names
Graves has a related form in Graeve. Graves has a related form in Graeves. Graves has a related form in Graive.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
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