Cleofas
A French masculine name meaning "glory has arisen".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Cleofas. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Cleofas today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cleofas births was 1924 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cleofas. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cleofas. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
1924
18 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1988 SSA rank
#3,451
Tracked since 1915
Census
Cleofas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 598 people with the first name Cleofas, which placed it at #18,116 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
#18,116
National first-name rank
People counted
598
598 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cleofas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleofas is Hispanic at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and White (2.0%). 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 Cleofas 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 Cleofas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.5% · 541
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 28
- White2.0% · 12
- Black or African American1.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
- Two or more races0.7% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Cleofas
Cleofas is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 211 total registrations, 161 (76.3%) were male and 50 (23.7%) were female.
Cleofas as a male name
- Ranked #7,479 in 1988
- 5 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1924 (10 births)
Cleofas as a female name
- Ranked #3,451 in 1929
- 8 female births in 1929
- Peak: 1915 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cleofas on both sides of the split. Of the 598 people counted with this name, 426 were male (71.2%) and 172 were female (28.8%).
Popularity
Cleofas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cleofas from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 75 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Cleofas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cleofas 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 Cleofas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cleofas' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cleofas
The given name Cleofas has its origins in Greek and Aramaic languages. It is derived from the Greek name Kleophas, which is believed to be a variant or diminutive form of the Greek name Kleopatros. The name Kleophas itself is thought to be a Greek rendering of the Aramaic name Clophas or Chelapa.
In the New Testament of the Bible, Cleofas (Greek: Κλεόπας, Kleopas) is mentioned as one of the two disciples who encountered the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus. This biblical reference is found in the Gospel of Luke (24:13-35) and is considered one of the earliest recorded instances of the name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Cleofas was Cleofas of Spoleto, an Italian saint and martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. He is venerated as the patron saint of Spoleto, a city in the region of Umbria, Italy.
Another notable bearer of the name was Cleofas Hernández (1535-1590), a Spanish Catholic priest and missionary who worked in Mexico during the 16th century. He is recognized for his efforts in evangelizing and educating indigenous populations in the region.
In the 17th century, Cleofas de la Torre (1610-1681) was a Spanish Franciscan friar and missionary who traveled to the Philippines and worked among the local communities there.
More recently, Cleofas Salvadó Pomerà (1892-1983) was a Spanish sculptor and artist known for his religious and monumental works, particularly in the Catalan region of Spain.
It is worth noting that the name Cleofas has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, with few prominent figures bearing this name. However, its religious and historical significance, particularly in the Christian tradition, has contributed to its enduring use as a given name.
People
Cleofas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cleofas 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
Cleofas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cleofas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cleofas 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 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Cleofas a common name?
We classify Cleofas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cleofas most popular?
The single biggest year for Cleofas was 1924, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cleofas is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cleofas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 598 people with the name Cleofas, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,116 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 Cleofas 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 Cleofas?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cleofas on both sides of the split. Of the 598 people counted with this name, 426 were male (71.2%) and 172 were female (28.8%). 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 Cleofas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleofas is Hispanic at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and White (2.0%). 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 Cleofas most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Cleofas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (541 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 Cleofas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cleofas a male name?
Yes, 76.3% of people registered as Cleofas 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 Cleofas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cleofas 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 Cleofas 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 Cleofas?
You can see how many people have the name Cleofas on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.