Claud
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "lame" or "enclosing".
Name Census estimates that about 1,824 living Americans carry the first name Claud. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Claud today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Claud births was 1919 (350 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Claud. 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 Claud is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Clauds were born before 1960.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 187,914 Americans
Peak year
1919
350 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
2010 SSA rank
#4,800
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Claud
Out of the 10,940 babies given the name Claud since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Claud as a male name
- Ranked #12,592 in 2010
- 5 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1919 (344 births)
Claud as a female name
- Ranked #4,800 in 1943
- 5 female births in 1943
- Peak: 1930 (9 births)
Popularity
Claud: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Claud from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,742 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
Claud 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 Claud during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clauds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Claud, while Iowa, Pennsylvania, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 282 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Claud
The name Claud has its origins in the ancient Roman world, derived from the Latin name Claudius. It is believed to have come from the Roman family name Claudius, which is thought to be associated with the Latin word "claudus," meaning "lame" or "crippled." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone with a physical disability or limp.
The name Claudius was borne by several prominent figures in Roman history, including several Roman emperors. The most famous of these was Claudius I, who ruled from 41 to 54 AD. He is known for his conquests in Britain and for the construction of important public works in Rome, such as the Claudian aqueduct.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Claudius was also adopted by some early saints and martyrs. One notable figure was Saint Claudius of Turin, a 9th-century bishop and writer who is remembered for his opposition to the veneration of images in churches.
The name Claud emerged as a variant of Claudius during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Claud is from the 12th century, when it was used by Claud de Bauffremont, a French nobleman and crusader.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Claud. These include Claud Lorrain, a 17th-century French painter known for his landscape paintings (1600-1682); Claud Frollo, a fictional character in Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame"; Claud Rains, an English actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films (1889-1967); Claud Cockburn, an Irish novelist and journalist (1904-1981); and Claud Levi-Strauss, a French anthropologist and ethnologist known for his work on structural anthropology (1908-2009).
While the name Claud has declined in popularity in recent times, it retains a rich historical legacy that traces back to ancient Rome and the influential figures who bore this name throughout the centuries.
People
Claud + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Claud 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
Claud: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Claud?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,824 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Claud 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 187,914 US residents.
Is Claud a common name?
We classify Claud as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Claud most popular?
The single biggest year for Claud was 1919, when 350 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Claud is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Claud a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Claud 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.