Clayborne
A masculine name derived from English words meaning "born of clay".
Name Census estimates that about 129 living Americans carry the first name Clayborne. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clayborne today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clayborne births was 1934 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clayborne. 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
129
~ 1 in 2,657,010 Americans
Peak year
1934
10 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,865
Tracked since 1911
Census
Clayborne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 201 people with the first name Clayborne, which placed it at #38,294 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
#38,294
National first-name rank
People counted
201
201 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clayborne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayborne is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Black (39.3%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Clayborne 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 Clayborne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.2% · 109
- Black or African American39.3% · 79
- Two or more races2.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 1
Popularity
Clayborne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clayborne from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clayborne 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 Clayborne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clayborne
Clayborne is an English given name with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "claeg" meaning clay and "burn" meaning stream, essentially translating to "clay stream" or "stream running through clay soil."
The name likely originated in regions of England where clay-rich soil was prevalent, such as the counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire. It was commonly used as a descriptive name for individuals living near streams or rivers with clayey banks.
One of the earliest known records of the name Clayborne can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documented landowners and properties in England following the Norman Conquest. The name appears as "Claiburne" in reference to a landowner in the county of Gloucestershire.
In the 13th century, a variant spelling, "Clayborne," was recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, a survey of landowners and their holdings. This suggests the name had gained wider usage across different regions of England by that time.
Notable historical figures bearing the name Clayborne include:
1. Clayborne de Burgh (c. 1240 - 1294), an English nobleman and military commander during the reign of King Edward I.
2. Clayborne Ferrers (c. 1310 - 1367), a prominent English lawyer and member of Parliament during the reign of King Edward III.
3. Clayborne Clifton (c. 1450 - 1508), an English clergyman who served as Bishop of Bath and Wells in the late 15th century.
4. Clayborne Wentworth (c. 1550 - 1624), an English explorer and colonist who was among the early settlers of Virginia in the early 17th century.
5. Clayborne Brooke (1617 - 1683), an English Puritan leader and founder of the colony of Maryland, known for his conflicts with the Calvert family over control of the colony.
Throughout its history, the name Clayborne has remained relatively uncommon, but its roots in the English language and association with notable figures have preserved its legacy as a distinctly English given name.
People
Clayborne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clayborne 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
Clayborne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clayborne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 129 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clayborne 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 2,657,010 US residents.
Is Clayborne a common name?
We classify Clayborne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 275 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clayborne most popular?
The single biggest year for Clayborne was 1934, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clayborne is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clayborne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 201 people with the name Clayborne, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,294 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 Clayborne 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 Clayborne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clayborne appears almost entirely male. Of the 203 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Clayborne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayborne is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Black (39.3%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Clayborne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clayborne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.2% (109 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 Clayborne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clayborne a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clayborne 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 Clayborne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clayborne 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 Clayborne 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 many people have Clayborne as a first name?
See how many Americans are named Clayborne on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.