Clarke
From English origin, signifying a clerk, scribe or scholar.
Name Census estimates that about 4,128 living Americans carry the first name Clarke. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Clarke today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clarke births was 2021 (192 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clarke. 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 Clarke with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,032 Americans
Peak year
2021
192 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,863
Tracked since 1880
Census
Clarke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,378 people with the first name Clarke, which placed it at #5,167 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
#5,167
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,378 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clarke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clarke is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Black (14.9%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Clarke 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 Clarke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.3% · 2,545
- Black or African American14.9% · 505
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 134
- Two or more races3.9% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Clarke
Clarke is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 5,418 total registrations, 3,872 (71.5%) were male and 1,546 (28.5%) were female.
Clarke as a male name
- Ranked #3,331 in 2024
- 35 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (61 births)
Clarke as a female name
- Ranked #1,863 in 2024
- 107 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (152 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Clarke on both sides of the split. Of the 3,383 people counted with this name, 2,490 were male (73.6%) and 893 were female (26.4%).
Popularity
Clarke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clarke from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 925 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clarke 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 Clarke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clarkes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Clarke, while Wisconsin, South Carolina, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clarke
The name Clarke is derived from the Latin word "clericus," which means "clerk" or "cleric." This name has its origins in medieval England, where clerks were typically educated men who worked as scribes, record-keepers, or minor officials in the service of the Church or the government.
The name Clarke is believed to have emerged as an occupational surname during the Middle Ages, when it was common for people to adopt surnames based on their professions or trades. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the late 12th century, with records showing individuals bearing the name Clarke or its variants, such as Clerk or Clerke.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Roger le Clerk, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1195. Another notable figure was William Clerk, an English monk and chronicler who lived in the 13th century and authored a work titled "De Vita et Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Virginis."
In the 14th century, the name Clarke gained prominence with the rise of the Lollard movement, a religious reform movement led by John Wycliffe. One of Wycliffe's followers was Walter Brute, also known as Walter Clerk or Walter Clarke, who was a prominent Lollard preacher and author in the late 14th century.
As the name spread throughout England, it also found its way into literature and historical records. In the 16th century, the playwright William Shakespeare featured a character named Sir John Falstaff's page, Robin the Clerk, in his plays "Henry IV, Part 1" and "Henry IV, Part 2."
Notable individuals with the first name Clarke throughout history include:
1. Clarke Gable (1901-1960), an American actor best known for his role in the classic film "Gone with the Wind."
2. Clarke Gayford (born 1976), a New Zealand broadcaster and the partner of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
3. Clarke Peters (born 1952), an American actor and singer known for his roles in shows like "The Wire" and "Treme."
4. Clarke Woodhouse (1900-1977), an English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
5. Clarke Quay (1820-1880), a British merchant and municipal leader in Singapore, for whom the Clarke Quay area is named.
While the name Clarke has its roots in medieval England, it has since spread to other parts of the world and continues to be used as a first name in various cultures and communities.
People
Clarke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clarke 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
Clarke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clarke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clarke 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 83,032 US residents.
Is Clarke a common name?
We classify Clarke as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,418 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clarke most popular?
The single biggest year for Clarke was 2021, when 192 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clarke is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clarke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,378 people with the name Clarke, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,167 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 Clarke 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 Clarke?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Clarke on both sides of the split. Of the 3,383 people counted with this name, 2,490 were male (73.6%) and 893 were female (26.4%). 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 Clarke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clarke is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Black (14.9%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Clarke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clarke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (2,545 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 Clarke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clarke a male name?
Yes, 71.5% of people registered as Clarke 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 Clarke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clarke 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 Clarke 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 common is the name Clarke?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.