Cleave — boys' name

What the Data Says About Cleave

The Social Security Administration has registered 403 babies named Cleave between 1885 and 1972, spanning 88 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Cleave currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 1972. The name reached its historical peak in 1920, when 18 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Cleave performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 107 births during that ten-year window. Across the 10 decades of recorded activity, Cleave shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 6 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by . In total, SSA state-level files list Cleave in 1 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Cleave 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 403 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.