Carver is an English occupational surname for a "wood carver" or "sculptor", from the Old English ceorfan, to cut. The agricultural scientist George Washington Carver, who taught generations of Southern farmers, is its most famous American bearer. As a first name Carver has sat in a narrow band between number 1272, its peak in 2015, and number 1499 for the past decade; it ranks number 1499 in 2025.