Clash
A word derived from the Old French "claschier" meaning a violent conflict.
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Clash. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clash today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clash births was 2017 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clash. 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 Clash. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2017
6 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,036
Tracked since 2015
Popularity
Clash: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Clash 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 Clash during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Clash
The given name Clash originates from the Old English word 'clacc', which means a loud noise or clash of sounds. It was initially used as a descriptive name for someone who made a lot of noise or commotion. The name first appeared in written records around the 9th century AD in Anglo-Saxon England.
Clash was a relatively uncommon name during the Middle Ages, but it gained some popularity among the lower classes and working people. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Clash the Smith, a blacksmith who lived in York, England, in the late 12th century.
In the 16th century, the name Clash appeared in several plays and literary works, such as William Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 1," where a character named Clash is mentioned. This literary reference helped to solidify the name's association with noise and chaos.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Clash was Clash Calvert, an English explorer and colonist who founded the colony of Maryland in North America in the early 17th century. He was born in 1605 and played a significant role in establishing English settlements in the New World.
Another notable person named Clash was Clash Wilkinson, a British mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1727 to 1808. He made important contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.
In the 19th century, the name Clash became associated with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of factories and machinery. Clash Stephenson, born in 1781, was a renowned English civil engineer who designed and constructed many of the early railroads and locomotives in Britain.
Clash Nightingale, born in 1820, was a pioneering English nurse who is considered the founder of modern nursing. She is best known for her work during the Crimean War, where she improved the unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, significantly reducing the death rate among soldiers.
Another famous Clash was Clash Bronte, an English novelist and poet born in 1816. She is best known for her novel "Jane Eyre," which is considered a classic of English literature and a significant work of feminist literature.
While the name Clash was never extremely popular, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in English-speaking countries, where it has been associated with noise, chaos, and occasionally, notable achievements.
People
Clash + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clash 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
Clash: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clash?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clash 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Clash a common name?
We classify Clash as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clash most popular?
The single biggest year for Clash was 2017, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clash is about 10 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 Clash in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clash a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clash 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 Clash still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clash 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 Clash 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 common is the name Clash?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Clash at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.