Clementina
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "merciful" or "mild-tempered".
Name Census estimates that about 700 living Americans carry the first name Clementina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Clementina today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clementina births was 1925 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clementina. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Clementina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
700
~ 1 in 489,649 Americans
Peak year
1925
47 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,425
Tracked since 1888
Census
Clementina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,325 people with the first name Clementina, which placed it at #5,225 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
#5,225
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,325 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clementina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clementina is Hispanic at 77.6%. The next largest groups are White (13.7%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Clementina 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 Clementina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.6% · 2,580
- White13.7% · 455
- Black or African American6.7% · 222
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 53
- Two or more races0.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Clementina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clementina 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 354 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
Clementina 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 Clementina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clementinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Texas, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Clementina, while Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clementina
The name Clementina has its origins in the Latin language and dates back to ancient Roman times. It is the feminine form of the masculine name Clemens, which means "merciful" or "gentle." The name is derived from the Latin word clementia, meaning "mercy" or "clemency."
Clementina was a relatively common name among Roman women, particularly those from noble or wealthy families. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius, who mentioned a woman named Clementina in his work "The Twelve Caesars."
In the early Christian era, the name Clementina gained religious significance due to its association with Pope Clement I, who was one of the first popes and is considered a saint by the Catholic Church. According to tradition, Pope Clement I had a close relationship with a woman named Clementina, which may have contributed to the name's popularity among early Christian families.
One of the most notable historical figures named Clementina was Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735), the daughter of King James II of England and his wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska. Clementina Sobieska was a prominent figure in the Jacobite movement, which aimed to restore the Stuart dynasty to the British throne.
Another prominent Clementina was Clementina Black (1853-1922), an American author and activist who was a leading figure in the women's suffrage movement. She wrote several books, including "The Reign of Reason," and was actively involved in the campaign for women's right to vote.
In the realm of literature, one of the most famous characters named Clementina is the titular heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel "The History of Sir Charles Grandison," published in 1753. Clementina is depicted as a virtuous and pious Italian woman who captures the heart of the novel's protagonist, Sir Charles Grandison.
Other notable individuals named Clementina include Clementina Hawarden (1822-1865), a pioneering British photographer known for her striking portraits of her daughters, and Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden (1847-1898), a British aristocrat and philanthropist who was active in various social and charitable causes.
People
Clementina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clementina 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
Clementina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clementina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 700 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clementina 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 489,649 US residents.
Is Clementina a common name?
We classify Clementina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,685 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clementina most popular?
The single biggest year for Clementina was 1925, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clementina is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clementina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,325 people with the name Clementina, or 1.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,225 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 Clementina 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 Clementina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clementina appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,332 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Clementina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clementina is Hispanic at 77.6%. The next largest groups are White (13.7%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Clementina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Clementina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (2,580 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 Clementina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clementina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clementina 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.
Is Clementina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clementina 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 Clementina 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 Clementina as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.