Clayten
An English masculine name derived from the elements meaning "clay" and "town".
Name Census estimates that about 254 living Americans carry the first name Clayten. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clayten today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clayten births was 2008 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clayten. 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
254
~ 1 in 1,349,427 Americans
Peak year
2008
18 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,646
Tracked since 1996
Census
Clayten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Clayten, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clayten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayten is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Clayten 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 Clayten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.0% · 208
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 14
- Two or more races4.1% · 10
- Black or African American2.5% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
Popularity
Clayten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clayten from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 129 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clayten 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 Clayten during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Claytens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Clayten
The name Clayten is an English given name derived from the Old English word "claeg," which means "clay" or "clayey soil." Its origins can be traced back to the medieval period in England, where it was commonly used as a surname for individuals who lived near or worked with clay deposits.
In the early 13th century, the name Clayten appeared in various historical records, such as the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, where a person named "Claytun" was mentioned as a landowner. The name's spelling varied during this period, with alternatives like "Claitun" and "Claytoun" also being used.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Clayten was Sir Clayten de Lyndeby, a knight who lived in Lincolnshire, England, during the late 13th century. He was known for his participation in the Wars of Scottish Independence, fighting alongside King Edward I against the Scots.
In the 15th century, a notable figure named Clayten Bray was a prominent English merchant and alderman in the city of Bristol. He was involved in the wool trade and held various civic positions in the local government.
During the Tudor period in the 16th century, a man named Clayten Mowbray was a renowned architect and stonemason. He was responsible for the construction of several notable buildings, including parts of Hampton Court Palace, commissioned by King Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, Clayten Jenkinson was an English explorer and writer who traveled extensively in Central Asia and Russia. He documented his journeys in a book titled "A Description of Muscovy and Other Tartarian Kingdoms," which provided valuable insights into the cultures and geography of the region.
Another notable figure with the name Clayten was Sir Clayten Mordaunt, a 17th-century English politician and military officer. He served as a Member of Parliament and fought in the English Civil War, initially supporting the Royalist cause before later switching sides to the Parliamentarians.
While the name Clayten has its roots in medieval England, it has been used across various English-speaking regions over the centuries, with individuals bearing this name making contributions in fields such as architecture, exploration, politics, and military service.
People
Clayten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clayten 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
Clayten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clayten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clayten 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 1,349,427 US residents.
Is Clayten a common name?
We classify Clayten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 257 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clayten most popular?
The single biggest year for Clayten was 2008, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clayten is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clayten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Clayten, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Clayten 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 Clayten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clayten leans strongly male. 241 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Clayten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayten is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Clayten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clayten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (208 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 Clayten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clayten a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clayten 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 Clayten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clayten 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 Clayten 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 are named Clayten?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.