Cleta
Cleta was last recorded in 1980, when 7 babies were given it; 4,013 Americans have been recorded with it between 1885 and 1980 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,110 Americans named Cleta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 70 and 85.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cleta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Cleta?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,328, in 1980; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
136 babies in 1935, the peak
Cleta peaked in 1935, when 136 girls were given it, #549 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 7 | #8,328 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 5 | #10,497 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 7 | #7,770 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #9,905 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,179 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,355 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,189 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 10 | #5,168 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 11 | #4,862 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,474 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 12 | #4,225 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 14 | #3,638 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 18 | #2,982 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 17 | #3,056 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 11 | #4,133 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 12 | #3,838 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,311 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 20 | #2,768 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 21 | #2,661 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 31 | #2,025 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 26 | #2,219 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 32 | #1,929 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 36 | #1,762 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 52 | #1,382 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 51 | #1,412 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 63 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 50 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 47 | #1,365 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 48 | #1,325 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 59 | #1,182 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 52 | #1,270 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 66 | #1,097 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 46 | #1,278 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 57 | #1,023 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 58 | #1,029 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 69 | #945 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 56 | #1,050 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 77 | #822 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 77 | #811 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 77 | #776 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 100 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1937 | 80 | #761 | 0.08 |
| 1936 | 102 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1935 | 136 | #549 | 0.13 |
| 1934 | 125 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1933 | 73 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 94 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 110 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1930 | 91 | #734 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | 83 | #768 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 92 | #740 | 0.08 |
| 1927 | 88 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 99 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1925 | 95 | #760 | 0.08 |
| 1924 | 85 | #810 | 0.07 |
| 1923 | 77 | #836 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 85 | #790 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 100 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1920 | 86 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1919 | 64 | #877 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 88 | #761 | 0.08 |
| 1917 | 87 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1916 | 89 | #721 | 0.09 |
| 1915 | 82 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 69 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1913 | 50 | #742 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 40 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 39 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1910 | 18 | #1,034 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 25 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 19 | #918 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 22 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 9 | #1,345 | 0.03 |
| 1905 | 21 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 13 | #1,012 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 16 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 13 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 10 | #1,079 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 10 | #1,241 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 8 | #1,191 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 14 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 10 | #1,046 | 0.04 |
| 1896 | 13 | #910 | 0.05 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,328 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 8 | #1,153 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,198 | 0.03 |
| 1888 | 10 | #847 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,074 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cleta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cleta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 88 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cleta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cleta, and how old are they?
1,110 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 28% of the 4,013 Americans ever recorded as Cleta. The median Cleta alive today is 77 years old; half are between 70 and 85.
The 2020 Census counted 1,501 people named Cleta (1,501 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,508 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 420 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 551 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 126 |
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 Cleta born?
The states with the most babies named Cleta are Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri, with 65% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 550 | not ranked | 7.3× |
| Texas | 423 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Missouri | 336 | not ranked | 3.2× |
| Illinois | 152 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Kansas | 140 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Kentucky | 138 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Arkansas | 91 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| North Carolina | 43 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 26 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Indiana | 22 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Cleta is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cleta is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 7.3 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 Cleta 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 4,586 babies since 1880, Cleta is the most given (88% of them).
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 Cleta
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 Cleta and names like it
- Compare Cleta and CleotaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sCleta peaked in 1935.
- Oklahoma’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cleta since 1910.
- The top names of 1935The year the most babies were named Cleta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Cleta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.