Cleophas
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "glory of the father".
Name Census estimates that about 359 living Americans carry the first name Cleophas. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Cleophas today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cleophas births was 1923 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cleophas. 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
- • The typical person named Cleophas is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Cleophas' were born before 1966.
People living today
359
~ 1 in 954,747 Americans
Peak year
1923
31 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1987 SSA rank
#4,303
Tracked since 1904
Census
Cleophas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 381 people with the first name Cleophas, which placed it at #25,037 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
#25,037
National first-name rank
People counted
381
381 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cleophas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleophas is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are White (10.0%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Cleophas 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 Cleophas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.8% · 323
- White10.0% · 38
- Two or more races3.1% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Cleophas
Cleophas leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 23 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cleophas as a male name
- Ranked #7,144 in 1987
- 5 male births in 1987
- Peak: 1923 (31 births)
Cleophas as a female name
- Ranked #4,303 in 1936
- 5 female births in 1936
- Peak: 1924 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cleophas leans strongly male. 362 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 23 female bearers (6.0%).
Popularity
Cleophas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cleophas from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 222 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
Cleophas 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 Cleophas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cleophas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Alabama, Texas, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Cleophas, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cleophas
The name Cleophas is of Greek origin, derived from the word "kleopatros," which means "descendant of a famous father." It is a variant of the more commonly known name Cleopatra. The name gained prominence during the Hellenistic period, which spanned from the 4th to the 1st century BC.
Cleophas is mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John. According to the accounts, Cleophas was one of the disciples of Jesus who encountered him on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. This biblical reference has contributed to the name's popularity among Christian communities throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Cleophas dates back to the 2nd century AD. Saint Cleophas, a Christian martyr, lived during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus in Rome. He was executed for his faith in the year 186 AD, and his feast day is celebrated on September 25th in the Catholic Church.
In the 4th century, Cleophas, a Galilean Jew, was mentioned in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea, an early Church historian. Eusebius referred to Cleophas as one of the interpreters who assisted Origen, a prominent Christian scholar, in his study of Hebrew scriptures.
During the Middle Ages, Cleophas was the name of a Frankish nobleman who lived in the 8th century. He served as a count under the Carolingian dynasty and is mentioned in several chronicles of the time.
In the 16th century, Cleophas Pederssøn (1544-1619) was a renowned Norwegian Lutheran theologian and scholar. He played a crucial role in the Norwegian Reformation and was instrumental in translating the Bible into the Norwegian language.
Another notable figure with the name Cleophas was Cleophas Everard Woodhouse (1808-1892), a British army officer and colonial administrator. He served as the Governor of Tobago from 1859 to 1868 and was known for his efforts in promoting education and infrastructure development on the island.
These examples illustrate the long-standing presence of the name Cleophas across different cultures and time periods, reflecting its Greek origins, biblical connections, and historical significance in various contexts.
People
Cleophas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cleophas 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
Cleophas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cleophas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 359 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cleophas 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 954,747 US residents.
Is Cleophas a common name?
We classify Cleophas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 983 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cleophas most popular?
The single biggest year for Cleophas was 1923, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cleophas is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cleophas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 381 people with the name Cleophas, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,037 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 Cleophas 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 Cleophas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cleophas leans strongly male. 362 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 23 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Cleophas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleophas is Black at 84.8%. The next largest groups are White (10.0%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Cleophas most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cleophas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (323 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 Cleophas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cleophas a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Cleophas 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 Cleophas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cleophas 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 Cleophas 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 Cleophas as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Cleophas at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.