Krue is a modern American coinage, a respelling of Crew, the English word for a team or ship's company that goes back to the Old French creue, "increase" or "reinforcement". It took off after television host Chip Gaines and his wife Joanna named their son Crew in 2018, and the K spelling matches a wave of names like Kash and Kreed. Krue climbed from number 2744 in 2015 into the US top 1000 in 2024 and ranks number 937 among boys' names in 2025.