Born in Phoebus, Virginia, on February 28, 1924, Kraft was named after his father, Christopher Columbus Kraft, who was born in New York City in 1892 near the newly renamed Columbus Circle. Kraft's father, the son of Bavarian immigrants,[3] had found his name an embarrassment, but passed it along to his son nonetheless. In later years, Kraft — as well as other commentators — would consider it peculiarly appropriate.