Claudius
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "lame".
Name Census estimates that about 437 living Americans carry the first name Claudius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Claudius today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Claudius births was 1916 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Claudius. 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
437
~ 1 in 784,335 Americans
Peak year
1916
23 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,518
Tracked since 1890
Popularity
Claudius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Claudius from the 1890s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 147 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
Claudius 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 Claudius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Claudius' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Claudius
The name Claudius is a Roman family name that originated from the Latin word "claudere", meaning "to close" or "to limp". It is believed to have been derived from an ancestor who had a physical disability or a limp. The name first appeared in ancient Roman history during the 3rd century BC.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Claudius is from the ancient Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a Claudius Pulcher in his work "Ab Urbe Condita" (From the Founding of the City). The name gained prominence during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC - 54 AD), who was the fourth emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
In ancient Roman literature, the name Claudius appears in various works, including those of Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, and Suetonius. The name was also mentioned in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Acts, where a Roman governor named Claudius Lysias is featured.
Over the course of history, several notable individuals have borne the name Claudius. One of the most famous was the Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC - 54 AD), who ruled from 41 AD to 54 AD and oversaw the conquest of Britain. Another prominent figure was the Roman poet Claudius Claudianus (c. 370 - c. 408 AD), known for his works in Latin.
In the Middle Ages, the name Claudius was used by several religious figures, including Saint Claudius (c. 602 - 695), a bishop of Besançon, and Pope Claudius I (c. 795 - 827), who served as the head of the Catholic Church from 815 to 827 AD. During the Renaissance period, the name was associated with the Italian painter and architect Claudius Parmigiano (1504 - 1540).
Other notable individuals with the name Claudius include the French mathematician and philosopher Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. 90 - c. 168 AD), the German philosopher Claudius Galen (c. 129 - c. 199 AD), and the English poet Claudius Tiberius Nero (37 AD - 68 AD).
People
Claudius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Claudius 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
Claudius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Claudius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 437 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Claudius 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 784,335 US residents.
Is Claudius a common name?
We classify Claudius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 922 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Claudius most popular?
The single biggest year for Claudius was 1916, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Claudius is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Claudius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Claudius 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.