Clae
A masculine name of English origin meaning "of the clayey soil".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Clae. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clae today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clae births was 2001 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clae. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Clae with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Clae. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2001
5 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,866
Tracked since 2001
Popularity
Clae: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Clae by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Clae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Clae
The name Clae has its origins in the Old French language, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a variation of the name Claude, which was derived from the Latin name Claudius. The name Claudius was a Roman family name, possibly stemming from the Latin word "claudere," meaning "to limp" or "to close."
In ancient Roman history, Claudius was the name of several prominent figures, including several Roman emperors. One of the most notable was Claudius I, who ruled from 41 to 54 AD. He was responsible for the conquest of Britain and the expansion of the Roman Empire.
The name Clae gained popularity during the medieval period, particularly in France and neighboring regions. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Clae de Bury, a 13th-century French knight who fought in the Crusades.
In the 15th century, Clae de Werve was a prominent Flemish painter known for his religious artwork. He lived from approximately 1420 to 1501 and was a master of the Early Netherlandish painting style.
During the 16th century, Clae Ingels was a renowned Dutch sailor and explorer. He was part of the Dutch East India Company and is credited with discovering several islands in the Pacific Ocean.
In the 17th century, Clae Rahmn was a Swedish military commander who played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War. He was born in 1592 and died in 1659.
Another notable figure in history with the name Clae was Clae Håkonsen, a Norwegian farmer and leader of the Eidsvoll Assembly, which drafted the Norwegian Constitution in 1814. He lived from 1770 to 1857 and was instrumental in shaping Norway's independence from Denmark.
People
Clae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clae as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Clae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clae going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Clae a common name?
We classify Clae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clae most popular?
The single biggest year for Clae was 2001, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clae is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Clae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clae a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clae in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Clae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clae in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Clae can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Clae?
Find out how many people have the name Clae on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.