Humanverse

Clarity vs Claude

American parents have registered 92,289 Claudes since 1880, against 1,014 Claritys. But in 2025 it was Clarity that was commoner, 115 babies to 40.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Clarity against Claude, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Clarity Claude

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

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Claude for 137 years and Clarity for 9 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Clarity Claude
Total US births 1,01492,289
Most in one year 1151,910
Babies in 2025 11540
Estimated living today 1,00028,000
Median age today 767
Peak year 20251920
Best rank 1,758th girls92nd boys
Rank in 2025 1,758th3,036th
First recorded 19771880
Girls / boys 1,014 / 0952 / 91,337

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 Claudes alive today are over 67; half the Claritys are over 7. That is 60 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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