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NameAlmanac

Clayton

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Clayton was given to 1,130 boys in 2025, #300 among boys’ names; 139,954 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 104,000 Americans named Clayton and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 32 years old and half are between 20 and 48.

Babies named Clayton each year, first recorded in 1880
Clayton, 1880-2025; highest in 2000.1k2k3k188019001920194019601980200020252000 peak: 2,577
Clayton, 1880-2025; highest in 2000.1k2k3k188019001920194019601980200020252000 peak: 2,577
Clayton, 1880-2025; highest in 2000.1k2k3k18801905193019551980200520252000 peak: 2,577
Clayton, 1880-2025; highest in 2000.1k2k3k18801930198020252000 peak: 2,577

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Clayton or KlaytonNames of the 2000sNames in Texas

Births of Clayton by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Clayton mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Clayton is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “clay” (clǣġ) and “enclosure, settlement; town” (tūn).

From Middle English Claytone, Cleyton, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”) + Old English tūn (“enclosure, settlement; town”). Analyzable as clay + -ton.

/ˈkleɪtən/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Clayton (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Clayton?

#300 among boys’ names, 2025

Clayton fell from #248 in 2015 to #300 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.77 to 0.66 per 1,000.

2,577 babies in 2000, the peak

Clayton peaked in 2000, when 2,577 babies were given it (2,564 boys, #151 among boys’ names). The 1,130 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.

Clayton by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20251,130#3000.66
20241,083#3180.63
20231,067#3100.62
20221,200#2860.69
20211,237#2790.71
20201,172#2890.68
20191,308#2730.73
20181,451#2540.80
20171,493#2500.81
20161,376#2660.73
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20151,479#2480.77
20141,365#2710.71
20131,387#2580.73
20121,367#2610.72
20111,345#2570.71
20101,361#2510.71
20091,264#2720.64
20081,577#2340.77
20071,446#2470.70
20061,595#2260.78
20051,662#2160.83
20041,923#1981.0
20032,130#1831.1
20022,160#1781.1
20012,351#1621.2
20002,564#1511.3
19992,343#1571.2
19982,267#1501.2
19972,319#1471.2
19962,339#1491.2
19952,361#1511.2
19942,371#1491.2
19932,031#1591.0
19921,909#1681.0
19911,847#1720.91
19902,029#1531.0
19891,962#1541.0
19881,890#1471.0
19871,815#1531.0
19861,672#1610.91
19851,718#1570.93
19841,818#1501.0
19831,729#1581.0
19821,705#1610.94
19811,349#1850.75
19801,275#1940.71
19791,208#1990.70
19781,083#2030.66
19771,165#1970.71
19761,185#1870.76
19751,177#1930.75
19741,092#2030.69
19731,106#1990.71
1972933#2300.58
1971967#2390.55
1970834#2640.45
1969799#2600.45
1968757#2640.44
1967746#2660.43
1966775#2600.43
1965882#2510.47
1964933#2510.47
19631,023#2340.50
1962971#2500.47
19611,165#2310.55
19601,245#2220.58
19591,134#2380.53
19581,127#2320.53
19571,019#2430.47
1956962#2340.45
1955925#2340.45
1954843#2390.41
1953871#2300.44
1952859#2280.44
1951815#2320.43
1950754#2410.42
1949749#2360.42
1948721#2380.41
1947812#2250.44
1946752#2210.46
1945638#2180.47
1944657#2120.48
1943767#2060.54
1942698#2130.51
1941662#2050.54
1940603#2120.52
1939632#1970.57
1938640#1990.58
1937701#1880.66
1936706#1860.68
1935700#1870.67
1934717#1830.69
1933655#1880.66
1932787#1750.75
1931831#1680.80
1930802#1780.73
1929855#1660.79
1928833#1730.75
1927919#1630.82
1926956#1610.86
1925932#1620.84
19241,039#1530.92
1923989#1580.90
1922979#1600.90
1921951#1580.86
1920961#1530.90
1919901#1490.92
1918877#1570.87
1917759#1660.82
1916753#1590.85
1915699#1650.82
1914563#1580.86
1913381#1810.74
1912346#1690.80
1911203#1650.90
1910159#1780.82
1909137#1760.84
1908134#1700.87
1907108#1920.74
1906100#1800.75
1905110#1740.83
190496#1880.75
190385#1890.71
190297#1750.79
190172#1980.68
1900118#1760.78
189961#2140.57
189887#1800.71
189775#1960.67
1896102#1610.85
189586#1830.73
189463#2120.54
189378#1870.69
189259#2280.48
189164#1940.63
189077#1760.69
188976#1760.69
188863#2210.52
188774#1730.73
188673#1820.66
188568#1920.63
188469#1930.60
188358#1990.55
188260#2100.53
188152#2120.52
188060#2010.54

Download Clayton’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Clayton a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Clayton has been given almost only to boys: 610 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Clayton: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Clayton, and how old are they?

104,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 74% of the 139,954 Americans ever recorded as Clayton. The median Clayton alive today is 32 years old; half are between 20 and 48.

The 2020 Census counted 91,105 people named Clayton (228 women and girls, 90,877 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 101,979 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% 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

100-10917
90-99499
80-892,230
70-795,040
60-697,860
50-598,470
40-4913,700
30-39 (median)19,700
20-2920,900
10-1913,800
0-911,100

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-19452,380
Baby Boomers1946-196411,900
Generation X1965-198014,300
Millennials1981-199629,200
Generation Z1997-201229,200
Generation Alpha2013-202516,700

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 Clayton born?

The states with the most babies named Clayton are Texas, California and Michigan, with 19% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
Texas84#4151.1×
California72#4450.6×
Michigan57#1801.0×
Florida51#3791.1×
Ohio50#2521.0×
New York47#3750.5×
Pennsylvania45#2640.7×
Georgia44#2801.1×
Tennessee43#2091.2×
Missouri36#1991.5×

Where Clayton is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Clayton is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 1.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Hawaii1.66×
Maine1.64×
South Dakota1.63×
North Dakota1.59×
Kansas1.57×
Oklahoma1.50×
Montana1.49×
Missouri1.47×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

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 Clayton 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 143,710 babies since 1880, Clayton is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,130 of their 1,235 babies (91%), again the most given.

Clayton and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Clayton139,9541,1302000
Klayton3,015892018
Calton299under 51939
Clayten267102008
Klayten11862008
Claytin57under 52008

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 Clayton

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Manuel192,742
Gregorio10,847
Tomas30,730
Victor332,220
Malcom5,864
Isreal4,722

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 Clayton and names like it

  1. Compare Clayton and KlaytonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 2000sClayton peaked in 2000.
  3. Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Clayton since 1910.
  4. From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Clayton: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Clayton.
  6. The names of Generation ZMost people named Clayton alive today were born 1997-2012.
  7. Names starting with CMost given first.

Compare Clayton with another name