Claretha
Claretha was last recorded in 1989, when 5 babies were given it; 1,109 Americans have been recorded with it between 1918 and 1989 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Claretha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Claretha mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Claretha is “a female given name of African-American usage, most popular in the mid-20th century.”
Elaborated form of Clare.
/kləˈɹiːθə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Claretha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,782, in 1989; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
41 babies in 1948, the peak
Claretha peaked in 1948, when 41 girls were given it, #1,441 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 5 | #12,782 | 2.7 |
| 1984 | 5 | #10,720 | 3.0 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,286 | 4.2 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,038 | 3.3 |
| 1977 | 6 | #8,651 | 3.9 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,055 | 6.2 |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,848 | 6.1 |
| 1973 | 5 | #8,655 | 3.4 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,467 | 4.0 |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,767 | 5.9 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 12 | #4,031 | 7.3 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,557 | 4.2 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,357 | 4.1 |
| 1965 | 14 | #3,426 | 7.9 |
| 1964 | 14 | #3,540 | 7.4 |
| 1963 | 15 | #3,357 | 7.8 |
| 1962 | 19 | #2,828 | 9.7 |
| 1961 | 16 | #3,207 | 7.9 |
| 1960 | 19 | #2,829 | 9.4 |
| 1959 | 25 | #2,297 | 12.4 |
| 1958 | 29 | #2,078 | 14.4 |
| 1957 | 21 | #2,495 | 10.3 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,902 | 15.9 |
| 1955 | 21 | #2,413 | 10.7 |
| 1954 | 32 | #1,840 | 16.5 |
| 1953 | 30 | #1,838 | 15.9 |
| 1952 | 38 | #1,562 | 20.5 |
| 1951 | 32 | #1,710 | 17.8 |
| 1950 | 38 | #1,500 | 22.2 |
| 1949 | 35 | #1,565 | 20.5 |
| 1948 | 41 | #1,441 | 24.1 |
| 1947 | 25 | #1,955 | 14.1 |
| 1946 | 27 | #1,731 | 17.2 |
| 1945 | 25 | #1,665 | 19.1 |
| 1944 | 30 | #1,492 | 22.6 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,956 | 14.3 |
| 1942 | 24 | #1,710 | 17.8 |
| 1941 | 32 | #1,359 | 26.5 |
| 1940 | 23 | #1,642 | 20.1 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,137 | 13.7 |
| 1938 | 22 | #1,657 | 19.9 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,458 | 24.4 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,885 | 16.3 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,857 | 17.2 |
| 1934 | 21 | #1,657 | 20.1 |
| 1933 | 29 | #1,332 | 28.8 |
| 1932 | 28 | #1,425 | 26.2 |
| 1931 | 19 | #1,810 | 17.8 |
| 1930 | 21 | #1,760 | 18.7 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,459 | 11.6 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,798 | 9.5 |
| 1927 | 15 | #2,352 | 12.6 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,366 | 12.7 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,527 | 4.9 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,445 | 7.2 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,045 | 5.8 |
| 1922 | 12 | #2,808 | 10.0 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,721 | 6.5 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,383 | 7.5 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,953 | 4.4 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,701 | 10.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Claretha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Claretha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 61 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Claretha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Claretha, and how old are they?
An estimated 612 Americans named Claretha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (55% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 65 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 578 people named Claretha (576 women and girls, 2 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 730 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% 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.
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 Claretha born?
The states with the most babies named Claretha are Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, with 91% of its births recorded by state since 1910; South Carolina is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 187 | not ranked | 8.7× |
| Georgia | 78 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| South Carolina | 61 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| North Carolina | 18 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Mississippi | 16 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Claretha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Claretha is most over-represented in Florida: since 1918 it was given 8.7 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 girls’ 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 Claretha with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Claretha
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 Claretha and names like it
- Compare Claretha and DeloisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sClaretha peaked in 1948.
- Florida’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Claretha since 1910.
- The top names of 1948The year the most babies were named Claretha.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Claretha alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.