Clemens
Clemens is a masculine name of Latin origin meaning "merciful" or "gentle".
Name Census estimates that about 357 living Americans carry the first name Clemens. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clemens today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clemens births was 1918 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clemens. 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
357
~ 1 in 960,096 Americans
Peak year
1918
66 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,416
Tracked since 1885
Census
Clemens in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 693 people with the first name Clemens, which placed it at #16,322 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
#16,322
National first-name rank
People counted
693
693 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clemens
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clemens is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Clemens 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 Clemens at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.2% · 604
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.8% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 19
- Black or African American1.7% · 12
- Two or more races1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Clemens: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clemens 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 471 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
Clemens 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 Clemens during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clemens' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Clemens, while Texas, Indiana, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clemens
The given name Clemens originated from the Latin word "clemens" which means "merciful" or "mild." It dates back to ancient Roman times and was used as a cognomen, or an additional name given to a person to describe their character or achievements.
This name's roots can be traced back to the 1st century AD, when it appeared in various historical records and inscriptions. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Titus Flavius Clemens, a Roman consul who lived during the reign of the emperor Vespasian in the late 1st century.
In the early Christian era, Clemens became a popular name among the clergy and religious figures. Saint Clement I, who served as the fourth Pope and is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church, was one of the most notable figures to bear this name. He lived from around 35 to 99 AD and is remembered for his epistle to the Corinthians, which is one of the earliest Christian writings outside of the New Testament.
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, the name Clemens remained popular, particularly in Europe. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Clemens Alexandrinus, a Christian theologian and philosopher who lived in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. He was a prominent figure in the Alexandrian school of Christian thought and wrote extensively on the integration of Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine.
During the Renaissance, the name Clemens was associated with several influential figures, including Clemens VII, who served as Pope from 1523 to 1534. He is remembered for his conflicts with King Henry VIII of England, which ultimately led to the English Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England.
Another notable figure was Clemens Wenzeslaus, a German composer and organist who lived from 1631 to 1687. He was a prominent member of the Dresden court and composed numerous works for the church and the royal court.
In the 19th century, the name Clemens gained popularity in the United States, particularly among German immigrants. One of the most famous Americans with this name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain. Born in 1835, he was a renowned author and humorist who wrote classic works such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
People
Clemens + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clemens 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
Clemens: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clemens?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clemens 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 960,096 US residents.
Is Clemens a common name?
We classify Clemens as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,641 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clemens most popular?
The single biggest year for Clemens was 1918, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clemens is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clemens in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 693 people with the name Clemens, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,322 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 Clemens 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 Clemens?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clemens leans strongly male. 668 people counted with this name were male (96.8%), compared with 22 female bearers (3.2%). 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 Clemens?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clemens is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%) and Hispanic (2.7%). 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 Clemens most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clemens in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.2% (604 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 Clemens in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clemens a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clemens 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 Clemens still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clemens 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 Clemens 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 share the name Clemens?
You can see how many people have the name Clemens on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.