Klaus
A masculine German name derived from the word "Nickname" meaning "Victory of the People".
Name Census estimates that about 1,335 living Americans carry the first name Klaus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Klaus today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Klaus births was 2022 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Klaus. 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 Klaus with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 256,745 Americans
Peak year
2022
84 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,405
Tracked since 1953
Census
Klaus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,608 people with the first name Klaus, which placed it at #4,930 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
#4,930
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,608 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Klaus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Klaus is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Klaus 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 Klaus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.7% · 3,235
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 202
- Two or more races1.9% · 70
- Black or African American1.5% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Popularity
Klaus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Klaus from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 343 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Klaus 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 Klaus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Klaus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Klaus, while Florida, Ohio, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Klaus
The given name Klaus has its origins in the Germanic languages and can be traced back to the Old High German name Niclaus or Nicolaus. This name is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which means "victory of the people." The earliest known use of the name Klaus dates back to the 9th century.
In the Middle Ages, Klaus was a popular name among German-speaking populations, particularly in regions such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The name gained widespread recognition due to its association with Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century Christian saint and patron saint of children, sailors, and merchants.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Klaus appears in the 10th century in the Latin chronicle "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum" by Adam of Bremen, where a nobleman named Klaus is mentioned. In the 12th century, the name is found in the writings of the German chronicler Otto of Freising, who mentions a historical figure named Klaus.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Klaus. One of the earliest was Klaus von Bültzingslöwen (c. 1190-1237), a German nobleman and crusader who participated in the Sixth Crusade. Another prominent figure was Klaus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), a German army officer and one of the key conspirators in the 20th July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Other famous individuals named Klaus include Klaus Fuchs (1911-1988), a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy; Klaus Kinski (1926-1991), a German actor known for his intense performances; and Klaus Nomi (1944-1983), a German countertenor and performance artist known for his unique style and theatrical performances.
In literature, the name Klaus has been used for various fictional characters, such as Klaus Baudelaire, one of the protagonists in the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" book series by Lemony Snicket. In the world of sports, notable figures with the name include Klaus Augusburger, a German professional ice hockey player, and Klaus Wowereit, a German politician who served as the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 2001 to 2014.
People
Klaus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Klaus as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Klaus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Klaus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,335 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Klaus 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 256,745 US residents.
Is Klaus a common name?
We classify Klaus as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,408 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Klaus most popular?
The single biggest year for Klaus was 2022, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Klaus is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Klaus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,608 people with the name Klaus, or 1.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,930 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 Klaus 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 Klaus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Klaus appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,606 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Klaus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Klaus is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Klaus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Klaus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (3,235 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 Klaus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Klaus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Klaus 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 Klaus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Klaus 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 Klaus 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 Klaus 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.