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Clarence vs Clata

American parents have registered 305,423 Clarences since 1880, against 21 Clatas. Clarence is still ahead, with 117 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Clarence against Clata, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Clarence Clata

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Clarence has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1936, when Clarence had 3,791 and Clata had 7.

Side by side

  Clarence Clata
Total US births 305,42321
Most in one year 7,3678
Babies in 2025 117under 5
Estimated living today 83,0005
Median age today 6685
Peak year 19211927
Best rank 28th boys3,561st girls
Rank in 2025 1,499thunranked
First recorded 18801927
Girls / boys 1,859 / 303,56421 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Clatas alive today are over 85; half the Clarences are over 66. That is 19 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Clarence and Clata.