Clanton
Derived from an Old English surname meaning "settlement by the clay pit".
Name Census estimates that about 26 living Americans carry the first name Clanton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clanton today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clanton births was 1920 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clanton. 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
- • The typical person named Clanton is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Clantons were born before 1955.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Clanton. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
26
~ 1 in 13,182,859 Americans
Peak year
1920
12 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1962 SSA rank
#3,086
Tracked since 1914
Census
Clanton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118 people with the first name Clanton, which placed it at #50,661 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#50,661
National first-name rank
People counted
118
118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clanton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clanton is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Clanton described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Clanton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.4% · 63
- Black or African American33.1% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.3% · 11
- Two or more races2.5% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1
Popularity
Clanton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clanton from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 50 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clanton 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 Clanton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clantons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Clanton
The name Clanton is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "clān" meaning "clean" or "pure," and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to a clean or well-kept town or settlement.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Clanton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this record, the name appears as "Clantune," referring to a place in Gloucestershire.
The name Clanton has also been associated with religious figures throughout history. One notable example is Saint Clanton, a 7th-century Irish monk and missionary who is said to have founded a monastery in what is now Scotland.
In the medieval period, the name Clanton appears in various historical records and chronicles. One notable bearer of the name was Clanton de Montfort (c. 1212 - 1265), a French nobleman and military leader who fought in the Albigensian Crusade and the Second Barons' War.
During the Renaissance, the name Clanton gained some prominence in the arts. One example is the Italian painter Clanton Bellini (c. 1430 - 1516), a member of the renowned Bellini family of Venetian artists.
In more recent centuries, the name Clanton has been borne by several notable figures. One example is Clanton Blackburn (1811 - 1865), an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Representative from Kentucky.
Another notable bearer of the name was Clanton Emmons (1888 - 1959), an American physicist and inventor who made significant contributions to the development of radar technology during World War II.
People
Clanton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clanton 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
Clanton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clanton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clanton 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 13,182,859 US residents.
Is Clanton a common name?
We classify Clanton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 146 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clanton most popular?
The single biggest year for Clanton was 1920, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clanton is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clanton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118 people with the name Clanton, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,661 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Clanton in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Clanton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clanton appears almost entirely male. Of the 117 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Clanton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clanton is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Clanton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clanton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.4% (63 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Clanton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clanton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clanton 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 Clanton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clanton 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 Clanton 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.
How many people are called Clanton?
Find out how many Americans are named Clanton on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.