Barclay — boys' name
954 babies named Barclay in U.S. Social Security records since 1912, with the highest year being 1970. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
15% of everyone ever named Barclay was born in this single decade.
26 babies were named Barclay in 1970 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Barclay
The Social Security Administration has registered 954 babies named Barclay between 1912 and 2021, spanning 110 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Barclay currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 2021. The name reached its historical peak in 1970, when 26 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Barclay performed strongest in the 1970s, accumulating 147 births during that ten-year window. Across the 12 decades of recorded activity, Barclay shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 5 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by . In total, SSA state-level files list Barclay in 1 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Barclay in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 954 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Barclay at a glance
Last recorded 2021Peak year
Current rank
Active since
Barclay popularity over time — boys
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2021–1912
- Peak year (1970)
- 26
- Annual births at peak — across 110 years of records
No longer in the modern top-1000 — last recorded 2021.
954 total births across 110 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1970 with 26 births in a single year.
Barclay popularity over time — girls
24 total births recorded since 1969 (Barclay as girls' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The girls' variant of Barclay accounts for 2% of total recorded use across both genders.
Barclay by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1970s
- 147 births that decade — 15% of Barclay's all-time total
Barclay decade highlights
- Peak decade 147 births
- Runner-up 131 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1970s was Barclay's strongest decade
147 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 15% of all-time use.
Barclay by state
Where Barclay concentrates geographically — total births since 1912
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | | 5 | 0.5% |
5 of 954 births nationwide.
Top 5 states
- California 0.5% of nationwide
Recorded in 1 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
California accounts for 0.5% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
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Nearby Names Like Barclay
Names with a similar sound, spelling, or feel to Barclay
Compare Barclay side by side: Barclay vs Barry Barclay vs Barrett Barclay vs Bart
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1912–2021 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.