Clancey
One of Irish etymology, indicating a descendant of a renowned warrior clan.
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Clancey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Clancey today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clancey births was 1991 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clancey. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Clancey. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1991
12 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2013 SSA rank
#12,487
Tracked since 1975
Gender
Gender distribution for Clancey
Clancey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 94 total registrations, 71 (75.5%) were male and 23 (24.5%) were female.
Clancey as a male name
- Ranked #12,487 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1995 (11 births)
Clancey as a female name
- Ranked #16,305 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1991 (7 births)
Popularity
Clancey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clancey from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 46 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clancey 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 Clancey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clancey
The name Clancey is an Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Ó Cloinn Tsíthigh, which means "descendant of the ancient family". It has its roots in the Gaelic language and culture of Ireland, dating back to the Middle Ages.
The name is believed to have originated from the ancient Gaelic clan system, where families and clans were identified by their lineage and ancestry. The Ó Cloinn Tsíthigh clan was one such prominent clan in Ireland, particularly in the counties of Tipperary and Limerick.
Historically, the name Clancey has been documented in various Irish annals and records, although its earliest recorded use is difficult to pinpoint precisely. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the 17th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Clancey. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Clancey O'Clancey (c. 1470-1540), a prominent Irish chieftain and member of the O'Clancey clan in County Tipperary. Another notable figure was Clancey O'Donnell (c. 1560-1628), a Irish military leader and member of the powerful O'Donnell clan.
In more recent times, Clancey Sigsbee (1858-1928) was a celebrated American naval officer who served in the Spanish-American War and commanded the battleship USS Maine. Clancey Dougall (1904-1993) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and the Scottish national team in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable bearer of the name was Clancey Doyle (1916-1985), an American jazz musician and bandleader who was active in the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. Clancey Watts (1928-2004) was an English character actor known for his roles in films such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining".
While the name Clancey has Irish roots, it has since been adopted and used by individuals of various ethnic backgrounds, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
People
Clancey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clancey 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
Clancey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clancey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clancey 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 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Clancey a common name?
We classify Clancey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 94 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clancey most popular?
The single biggest year for Clancey was 1991, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clancey is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Clancey a male name?
Yes, 75.5% of people registered as Clancey 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.
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.