Clydell
A masculine given name derived from a Scottish surname meaning "from the cliff by the river".
Name Census estimates that about 112 living Americans carry the first name Clydell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Clydell today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clydell births was 1935 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clydell. 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 Clydell is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Clydells were born before 1966.
People living today
112
~ 1 in 3,060,307 Americans
Peak year
1935
16 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1998 SSA rank
#4,831
Tracked since 1919
Census
Clydell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Clydell, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clydell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clydell is Black at 64.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.6%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Clydell 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 Clydell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.0% · 121
- White28.6% · 54
- Two or more races5.8% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Clydell
Clydell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 220 total registrations, 137 (62.3%) were male and 83 (37.7%) were female.
Clydell as a male name
- Ranked #9,877 in 1998
- 5 male births in 1998
- Peak: 1950 (9 births)
Clydell as a female name
- Ranked #4,831 in 1950
- 6 female births in 1950
- Peak: 1935 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Clydell on both sides of the split. Of the 193 people counted with this name, 114 were male (59.1%) and 79 were female (40.9%).
Popularity
Clydell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clydell from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 61 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clydell 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 Clydell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clydells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Clydell
The given name Clydell is an English name derived from the Scottish surname Clyde, which itself has origins in the Celtic words "clud" meaning "warm" and "ail" meaning "region." The name is believed to have originated in the area around the River Clyde in Scotland, which was named after the Celtic words for "warm river."
Clydell gained popularity as a first name in the United States during the early 20th century, particularly in the southern states. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Clydell can be found in the 1920 United States Federal Census, where it appears as the name of a child born in Mississippi.
In terms of historical references, the name Clydell does not seem to have any significant mentions in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. However, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Clydell was Clydell Castleman (1892-1973), an American blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. He was an influential figure in the development of the Delta blues style and recorded several songs in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable Clydell was Clydell Horne (1917-2004), an American baseball player who played in the Negro Leagues during the 1940s and 1950s. He was a talented outfielder and played for several teams, including the Kansas City Monarchs and the Indianapolis Clowns.
In the field of education, Clydell Toman (1921-2010) was a prominent figure. He was an American educator and administrator who served as the president of the University of South Carolina from 1968 to 1977. Toman played a significant role in the desegregation of the university and the expansion of its academic programs.
Another notable Clydell was Clydell Millbrook (1920-2004), an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1940s and later pursued a successful career as a session musician and bandleader, playing with several notable jazz artists.
Lastly, Clydell Garfield (1928-1994) was an American football player who played as a defensive back for the Los Angeles Dons in the All-America Football Conference in the late 1940s. He later worked as a coach and sports administrator at several universities after his playing career.
People
Clydell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clydell 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
Clydell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clydell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clydell 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 3,060,307 US residents.
Is Clydell a common name?
We classify Clydell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clydell most popular?
The single biggest year for Clydell was 1935, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clydell 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 Clydell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Clydell, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Clydell 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 Clydell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Clydell on both sides of the split. Of the 193 people counted with this name, 114 were male (59.1%) and 79 were female (40.9%). 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 Clydell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clydell is Black at 64.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.6%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Clydell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Clydell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.0% (121 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 Clydell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clydell a male name?
Yes, 62.3% of people registered as Clydell 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 Clydell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clydell 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 Clydell 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 Clydell?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Clydell at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.