Clyde
Clyde was given to 350 boys in 2025, #743 among boys’ names; 148,926 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 45,200 Americans named Clyde and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (30% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 50 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Clyde by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Clyde mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Clyde is “a male given name transferred from the place name (the River Clyde in Scotland).”
From Scottish Gaelic Cluaidh, the name of a river in Scotland, of uncertain origin. Possibly influenced by clut (“the cleansing one”).
/klaɪd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Clyde?
#743 among boys’ names, 2025
Clyde rose from #803 in 2015 to #743 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.15 to 0.20 per 1,000.
3,164 babies in 1920, the peak
Clyde peaked in 1920, when 3,164 babies were given it (3,069 boys, #68 among boys’ names). The 350 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 350 | #743 | 0.20 |
| 2024 | 362 | #728 | 0.21 |
| 2023 | 368 | #721 | 0.22 |
| 2022 | 395 | #684 | 0.23 |
| 2021 | 352 | #731 | 0.20 |
| 2020 | 348 | #715 | 0.20 |
| 2019 | 299 | #779 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 328 | #729 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 350 | #704 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 298 | #795 | 0.16 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 288 | #803 | 0.15 |
| 2014 | 285 | #806 | 0.15 |
| 2013 | 196 | #1,001 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 158 | #1,155 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 154 | #1,160 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 137 | #1,268 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 140 | #1,257 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 143 | #1,224 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 141 | #1,249 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 129 | #1,291 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 125 | #1,257 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 137 | #1,146 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 116 | #1,248 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 112 | #1,222 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 117 | #1,170 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 144 | #1,014 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 123 | #1,085 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 154 | #921 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 136 | #965 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 133 | #961 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 168 | #824 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 152 | #871 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 184 | #774 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 199 | #732 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 187 | #741 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 250 | #639 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 235 | #650 | 0.12 |
| 1988 | 223 | #639 | 0.12 |
| 1987 | 215 | #622 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 241 | #572 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 277 | #524 | 0.15 |
| 1984 | 291 | #494 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 289 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1982 | 309 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 346 | #443 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 386 | #420 | 0.22 |
| 1979 | 340 | #435 | 0.20 |
| 1978 | 353 | #416 | 0.22 |
| 1977 | 367 | #411 | 0.22 |
| 1976 | 386 | #394 | 0.25 |
| 1975 | 399 | #391 | 0.26 |
| 1974 | 416 | #377 | 0.26 |
| 1973 | 492 | #344 | 0.32 |
| 1972 | 487 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1971 | 520 | #353 | 0.29 |
| 1970 | 621 | #315 | 0.33 |
| 1969 | 607 | #307 | 0.34 |
| 1968 | 626 | #301 | 0.36 |
| 1967 | 640 | #286 | 0.37 |
| 1966 | 666 | #288 | 0.37 |
| 1965 | 770 | #269 | 0.41 |
| 1964 | 891 | #257 | 0.45 |
| 1963 | 1,008 | #240 | 0.50 |
| 1962 | 1,137 | #225 | 0.55 |
| 1961 | 1,354 | #210 | 0.64 |
| 1960 | 1,372 | #206 | 0.64 |
| 1959 | 1,468 | #196 | 0.69 |
| 1958 | 1,552 | #183 | 0.73 |
| 1957 | 1,744 | #176 | 0.81 |
| 1956 | 1,716 | #175 | 0.81 |
| 1955 | 1,741 | #164 | 0.85 |
| 1954 | 1,777 | #161 | 0.87 |
| 1953 | 1,855 | #154 | 0.94 |
| 1952 | 2,014 | #143 | 1.0 |
| 1951 | 2,054 | #132 | 1.1 |
| 1950 | 1,985 | #136 | 1.1 |
| 1949 | 2,084 | #131 | 1.2 |
| 1948 | 2,073 | #131 | 1.2 |
| 1947 | 2,263 | #128 | 1.2 |
| 1946 | 2,065 | #122 | 1.3 |
| 1945 | 1,858 | #121 | 1.4 |
| 1944 | 2,081 | #111 | 1.5 |
| 1943 | 2,194 | #114 | 1.5 |
| 1942 | 2,206 | #109 | 1.6 |
| 1941 | 1,872 | #113 | 1.5 |
| 1940 | 2,014 | #102 | 1.7 |
| 1939 | 1,959 | #101 | 1.8 |
| 1938 | 2,130 | #97 | 1.9 |
| 1937 | 2,105 | #93 | 2.0 |
| 1936 | 2,153 | #89 | 2.1 |
| 1935 | 2,355 | #82 | 2.3 |
| 1934 | 2,323 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1933 | 2,141 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1932 | 2,319 | #82 | 2.2 |
| 1931 | 2,336 | #77 | 2.2 |
| 1930 | 2,631 | #76 | 2.4 |
| 1929 | 2,628 | #74 | 2.4 |
| 1928 | 2,713 | #74 | 2.4 |
| 1927 | 2,880 | #68 | 2.6 |
| 1926 | 2,873 | #67 | 2.6 |
| 1925 | 2,906 | #68 | 2.6 |
| 1924 | 3,006 | #69 | 2.7 |
| 1923 | 2,853 | #68 | 2.6 |
| 1922 | 3,007 | #67 | 2.8 |
| 1921 | 3,022 | #69 | 2.7 |
| 1920 | 3,069 | #68 | 2.9 |
| 1919 | 2,884 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1918 | 2,917 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1917 | 2,719 | #64 | 2.9 |
| 1916 | 2,707 | #62 | 3.0 |
| 1915 | 2,518 | #63 | 3.0 |
| 1914 | 1,954 | #63 | 3.0 |
| 1913 | 1,537 | #64 | 3.0 |
| 1912 | 1,314 | #65 | 3.1 |
| 1911 | 697 | #61 | 3.1 |
| 1910 | 617 | #57 | 3.2 |
| 1909 | 516 | #60 | 3.1 |
| 1908 | 511 | #59 | 3.3 |
| 1907 | 507 | #56 | 3.5 |
| 1906 | 457 | #55 | 3.4 |
| 1905 | 474 | #52 | 3.6 |
| 1904 | 457 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1903 | 413 | #52 | 3.5 |
| 1902 | 382 | #60 | 3.1 |
| 1901 | 356 | #55 | 3.3 |
| 1900 | 451 | #56 | 3.0 |
| 1899 | 330 | #58 | 3.1 |
| 1898 | 383 | #58 | 3.1 |
| 1897 | 359 | #58 | 3.2 |
| 1896 | 372 | #58 | 3.1 |
| 1895 | 370 | #59 | 3.2 |
| 1894 | 386 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1893 | 391 | #55 | 3.5 |
| 1892 | 390 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 1891 | 327 | #58 | 3.2 |
| 1890 | 317 | #64 | 2.9 |
| 1889 | 318 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1888 | 344 | #60 | 2.8 |
| 1887 | 320 | #55 | 3.2 |
| 1886 | 307 | #62 | 2.8 |
| 1885 | 318 | #57 | 2.9 |
| 1884 | 345 | #56 | 3.0 |
| 1883 | 336 | #50 | 3.2 |
| 1882 | 293 | #62 | 2.6 |
| 1881 | 232 | #68 | 2.3 |
| 1880 | 221 | #72 | 2.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Clyde a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 148,926 Americans recorded as Clyde, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 350 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Clyde: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Clyde, and how old are they?
45,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 30% of the 148,926 Americans ever recorded as Clyde. The median Clyde alive today is 68 years old; half are between 50 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 47,655 people named Clyde (376 women and girls, 47,279 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 53,475 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
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 7,440 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 20,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7,110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,190 |
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 Clyde born?
The states with the most babies named Clyde are North Carolina, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 9,486 | #1,170 | 2.1× |
| Texas | 9,104 | #733 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 7,552 | #672 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 6,375 | #645 | 1.9× |
| Ohio | 6,371 | #601 | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 5,492 | #815 | 1.7× |
| Kentucky | 5,252 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| California | 5,153 | #789 | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 5,127 | #930 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 4,791 | #765 | 0.6× |
Where Clyde is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Clyde is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Clyde 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 149,978 babies since 1880, Clyde is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 350 of their 369 babies (95%), 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 Clyde
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 Clyde and names like it
- Compare Clyde and ClideBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sClyde peaked in 1920.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Clyde since 1910.
- From place namesWiktionary’s origin for Clyde: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Clyde.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Clyde alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.