Clarence
Clarence was given to 117 boys in 2025, #1,500 among boys’ names; 305,423 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 80,600 Americans named Clarence and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (26% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 51 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Clarence by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Clarence mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Clarence is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “from the town of Clare” (Clārensis).
Originally a ducal title of the English and British royal family, from Clārensis (“from the town of Clare”), (the town of Clare, Suffolk), although it has also been associated with Italian Chiarenza, Clarentza, &c., a former fortress and settlement in the medieval Frankish Principality of Achaea in Greece.
/ˈklæɹəns/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Clarence?
#1,500 among boys’ names, 2025
Clarence fell from #1,070 in 2015 to #1,500 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 96.5 to 68.5 per million.
7,367 babies in 1921, the peak
Clarence peaked in 1921, when 7,367 babies were given it (7,332 boys, #28 among boys’ names). The 117 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 117 | #1,500 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 113 | #1,552 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 112 | #1,559 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 137 | #1,366 | 0.08 |
| 2021 | 129 | #1,419 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 135 | #1,327 | 0.08 |
| 2019 | 169 | #1,152 | 0.09 |
| 2018 | 173 | #1,119 | 0.10 |
| 2017 | 158 | #1,182 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 156 | #1,211 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 185 | #1,070 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 197 | #1,028 | 0.10 |
| 2013 | 176 | #1,065 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 191 | #1,023 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 191 | #1,011 | 0.10 |
| 2010 | 199 | #989 | 0.10 |
| 2009 | 193 | #1,016 | 0.10 |
| 2008 | 218 | #932 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 251 | #845 | 0.12 |
| 2006 | 249 | #817 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 297 | #694 | 0.15 |
| 2004 | 250 | #745 | 0.13 |
| 2003 | 260 | #715 | 0.13 |
| 2002 | 262 | #693 | 0.13 |
| 2001 | 302 | #627 | 0.16 |
| 2000 | 310 | #614 | 0.16 |
| 1999 | 317 | #597 | 0.17 |
| 1998 | 349 | #565 | 0.18 |
| 1997 | 362 | #546 | 0.19 |
| 1996 | 376 | #527 | 0.20 |
| 1995 | 425 | #499 | 0.22 |
| 1994 | 482 | #455 | 0.25 |
| 1993 | 499 | #441 | 0.25 |
| 1992 | 518 | #429 | 0.26 |
| 1991 | 592 | #382 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 618 | #375 | 0.30 |
| 1989 | 635 | #357 | 0.32 |
| 1988 | 655 | #328 | 0.34 |
| 1987 | 632 | #325 | 0.34 |
| 1986 | 693 | #296 | 0.38 |
| 1985 | 675 | #304 | 0.37 |
| 1984 | 732 | #284 | 0.41 |
| 1983 | 795 | #260 | 0.44 |
| 1982 | 842 | #259 | 0.46 |
| 1981 | 846 | #257 | 0.47 |
| 1980 | 859 | #257 | 0.48 |
| 1979 | 911 | #241 | 0.53 |
| 1978 | 935 | #226 | 0.57 |
| 1977 | 886 | #237 | 0.54 |
| 1976 | 953 | #219 | 0.61 |
| 1975 | 909 | #225 | 0.58 |
| 1974 | 1,005 | #213 | 0.64 |
| 1973 | 1,100 | #200 | 0.71 |
| 1972 | 1,214 | #191 | 0.75 |
| 1971 | 1,370 | #187 | 0.77 |
| 1970 | 1,384 | #193 | 0.74 |
| 1969 | 1,335 | #195 | 0.75 |
| 1968 | 1,382 | #184 | 0.80 |
| 1967 | 1,376 | #182 | 0.79 |
| 1966 | 1,531 | #176 | 0.86 |
| 1965 | 1,802 | #166 | 1.0 |
| 1964 | 1,775 | #166 | 0.89 |
| 1963 | 1,962 | #163 | 1.0 |
| 1962 | 1,950 | #163 | 0.94 |
| 1961 | 2,189 | #155 | 1.0 |
| 1960 | 2,198 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1959 | 2,380 | #147 | 1.1 |
| 1958 | 2,525 | #138 | 1.2 |
| 1957 | 2,627 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1956 | 2,953 | #120 | 1.4 |
| 1955 | 3,017 | #117 | 1.5 |
| 1954 | 3,182 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1953 | 3,075 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1952 | 3,157 | #102 | 1.6 |
| 1951 | 3,232 | #98 | 1.7 |
| 1950 | 3,340 | #95 | 1.9 |
| 1949 | 3,395 | #94 | 1.9 |
| 1948 | 3,790 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1947 | 3,921 | #88 | 2.1 |
| 1946 | 3,567 | #89 | 2.2 |
| 1945 | 3,196 | #82 | 2.4 |
| 1944 | 3,575 | #74 | 2.6 |
| 1943 | 3,854 | #68 | 2.7 |
| 1942 | 3,741 | #67 | 2.7 |
| 1941 | 3,671 | #62 | 3.0 |
| 1940 | 3,487 | #64 | 3.0 |
| 1939 | 3,482 | #60 | 3.1 |
| 1938 | 3,639 | #58 | 3.3 |
| 1937 | 3,755 | #54 | 3.5 |
| 1936 | 3,772 | #52 | 3.6 |
| 1935 | 4,080 | #48 | 3.9 |
| 1934 | 4,213 | #45 | 4.1 |
| 1933 | 4,280 | #43 | 4.3 |
| 1932 | 4,895 | #40 | 4.7 |
| 1931 | 5,062 | #39 | 4.9 |
| 1930 | 5,498 | #39 | 5.0 |
| 1929 | 5,729 | #37 | 5.3 |
| 1928 | 6,068 | #35 | 5.5 |
| 1927 | 6,460 | #32 | 5.7 |
| 1926 | 6,537 | #29 | 5.9 |
| 1925 | 6,670 | #30 | 6.0 |
| 1924 | 6,895 | #29 | 6.1 |
| 1923 | 6,801 | #29 | 6.2 |
| 1922 | 6,861 | #29 | 6.3 |
| 1921 | 7,332 | #28 | 6.7 |
| 1920 | 7,221 | #26 | 6.8 |
| 1919 | 6,825 | #25 | 7.0 |
| 1918 | 7,187 | #23 | 7.1 |
| 1917 | 6,587 | #25 | 7.1 |
| 1916 | 6,304 | #24 | 7.1 |
| 1915 | 6,267 | #24 | 7.4 |
| 1914 | 4,909 | #22 | 7.5 |
| 1913 | 4,046 | #21 | 7.9 |
| 1912 | 3,590 | #21 | 8.3 |
| 1911 | 1,775 | #23 | 7.9 |
| 1910 | 1,706 | #20 | 8.8 |
| 1909 | 1,518 | #19 | 9.3 |
| 1908 | 1,428 | #19 | 9.3 |
| 1907 | 1,389 | #18 | 9.5 |
| 1906 | 1,319 | #18 | 9.9 |
| 1905 | 1,377 | #17 | 10.4 |
| 1904 | 1,310 | #17 | 10.2 |
| 1903 | 1,261 | #17 | 10.6 |
| 1902 | 1,292 | #17 | 10.5 |
| 1901 | 1,196 | #17 | 11.2 |
| 1900 | 1,483 | #18 | 9.9 |
| 1899 | 1,139 | #17 | 10.7 |
| 1898 | 1,326 | #17 | 10.8 |
| 1897 | 1,201 | #17 | 10.7 |
| 1896 | 1,254 | #17 | 10.5 |
| 1895 | 1,326 | #17 | 11.3 |
| 1894 | 1,185 | #17 | 10.2 |
| 1893 | 1,169 | #17 | 10.4 |
| 1892 | 1,276 | #17 | 10.5 |
| 1891 | 1,007 | #17 | 10.0 |
| 1890 | 1,018 | #17 | 9.2 |
| 1889 | 984 | #17 | 8.9 |
| 1888 | 1,022 | #17 | 8.5 |
| 1887 | 892 | #17 | 8.8 |
| 1886 | 995 | #17 | 9.0 |
| 1885 | 906 | #17 | 8.4 |
| 1884 | 889 | #18 | 7.8 |
| 1883 | 837 | #18 | 8.0 |
| 1882 | 837 | #20 | 7.4 |
| 1881 | 668 | #21 | 6.6 |
| 1880 | 730 | #22 | 6.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Clarence a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Clarence has been given almost only to boys: 1,859 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Clarence: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Clarence, and how old are they?
80,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 26% of the 305,423 Americans ever recorded as Clarence. The median Clarence alive today is 67 years old; half are between 51 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 82,717 people named Clarence (288 women and girls, 82,429 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 98,895 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 13,100 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 34,900 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 16,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 9,560 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,940 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Clarence born?
The states with the most babies named Clarence are Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio, with 16% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 15,102 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 14,977 | #1,941 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 13,486 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 13,321 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 12,878 | #1,309 | 1.5× |
| Virginia | 11,567 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Louisiana | 10,984 | #799 | 2.0× |
| Georgia | 10,717 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 10,288 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Alabama | 10,097 | not ranked | 1.5× |
Where Clarence is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Clarence is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Clarence with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 310,415 babies since 1880, Clarence is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 117 of their 117 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Clarence
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Clarence and names like it
- Compare Clarence and ClaranceBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sClarence peaked in 1921.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Clarence since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Clarence: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Clarence.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Clarence alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.