Cletus vs Cleve
American parents have registered 7,709 Cletuses since 1880, against 4,529 Cleves. Cletus is still ahead, with 9 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Cletus Cleve
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 143 years in which either name was published, Cletus for 89 years and Cleve for 54 years. The lead changed hands 31 times.
- 1882–1903 Cleve ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1911–1952 Cletus ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1953–1956 Cleve ahead
- 1960–1970 Cletus ahead
- 1971–1975 Cleve ahead
- 1985–1987 Cletus ahead
- 1988–1992 Cleve ahead
- 1996–2004 Cletus ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2005–2007 Cleve ahead
- 2011–2025 Cletus ahead
19 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Cletus | Cleve | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 7,709 | 4,529 |
| Most in one year | 243 | 83 |
| Babies in 2025 | 9 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 2,100 | 1,700 |
| Median age today | 65 | 64 |
| Peak year | 1922 | 1951 |
| Best rank | 391st boys | 766th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 8,243rd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1886 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 272 / 7,437 | 23 / 4,506 |
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.
Where each one is strongest
- Cletus Iowa (8.2×), Missouri (4.7×), Wisconsin (3.7×)
- Cleve Alabama (8.8×), Georgia (6.1×), Mississippi (5.7×)
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: Cletus and Cleve.