Claudine
A feminine name of French origin meaning "lame" or "enclosure for lambs".
Name Census estimates that about 5,146 living Americans carry the first name Claudine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Claudine today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Claudine births was 1970 (442 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Claudine. 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.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 66,606 Americans
Peak year
1970
442 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1928 SSA rank
#4,255
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Claudine
Out of the 11,337 babies given the name Claudine since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Claudine as a male name
- Ranked #4,255 in 1928
- 5 male births in 1928
- Peak: 1919 (5 births)
Claudine as a female name
- Ranked #13,801 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (442 births)
Popularity
Claudine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Claudine from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,880 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
Claudine 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 Claudine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Claudines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Claudine, while Nebraska, South Carolina, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 196 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Claudine
The name Claudine has its origins in the Late Latin name Claudius, which is derived from the Roman family name Claudius. The Claudii were an ancient Roman patrician family that produced several Roman emperors, including Claudius I, who reigned from 41 to 54 AD.
The name Claudius is believed to have originated from the Latin word claudus, meaning "lame" or "crippled." This suggests that the first person to bear this name may have had a physical disability. The feminine form of Claudius is Claudia, and Claudine is a French diminutive of Claudia.
Claudine first emerged as a name during the Middle Ages in France. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Claudine de Tencin, a French novelist and salonist who lived from 1682 to 1749. She was known for her salons in Paris, which attracted many prominent figures of the time.
Another notable figure with the name Claudine was Claudine de Saint-Geniès, a French noblewoman and memoirist who lived from 1556 to 1636. Her memoirs, published in the 17th century, provided insights into the lives of aristocratic women during the French Wars of Religion.
In the realm of literature, Claudine is the protagonist in a series of novels by the French author Colette, published between 1900 and 1903. These semi-autobiographical novels, known as the "Claudine" series, explore themes of adolescence, sexuality, and societal expectations for women.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Claudine was the French actress Claudine Auger, who was born in 1941 and is best known for her role as Domino Derval in the 1965 James Bond film "Thunderball."
Another notable Claudine was Claudine Longet, a French singer and actress born in 1942. She gained fame in the 1960s for her recordings and appearances on television shows such as "The Andy Williams Show."
While the name Claudine has its roots in ancient Roman history, it has been used throughout various periods and cultures, particularly in France, where it gained popularity and has been associated with notable figures in literature, entertainment, and society.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Claudine
People
Claudine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Claudine 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
Claudine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Claudine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Claudine 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 66,606 US residents.
Is Claudine a common name?
We classify Claudine as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Claudine most popular?
The single biggest year for Claudine was 1970, when 442 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Claudine is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Claudine a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Claudine in the SSA data are female. 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.