# Clarence (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/clarence/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “from the town of clare” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈklæɹəns/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 305,423 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 303,564 / 1,859 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 160, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Originally a ducal title of the English and British royal family, from Clārensis (“from the town of Clare”), (the town of Clare, Suffolk), although it has also been associated with Italian Chiarenza, Clarentza, &c., a former fortress and settlement in the medieval Frankish Principality of Achaea in Greece.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 10 | 5,606 |
| 1976 | 17 | 3,838 |
| 1977 | 11 | 5,581 |
| 1978 | 14 | 4,720 |
| 1979 | 5 | 10,496 |
| 1980 | 9 | 6,895 |
| 1982 | 12 | 5,607 |
| 1983 | 8 | 7,434 |
| 1984 | 9 | 6,920 |
| 1985 | 10 | 6,555 |
| 1986 | 5 | 11,280 |
| 1987 | 12 | 5,997 |
| 1988 | 9 | 7,824 |
| 1990 | 5 | 13,409 |
| 1992 | 5 | 13,724 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 191 | 1,011 |
| 2012 | 191 | 1,023 |
| 2013 | 176 | 1,065 |
| 2014 | 197 | 1,028 |
| 2015 | 185 | 1,070 |
| 2016 | 156 | 1,211 |
| 2017 | 158 | 1,182 |
| 2018 | 173 | 1,119 |
| 2019 | 169 | 1,152 |
| 2020 | 135 | 1,327 |
| 2021 | 129 | 1,419 |
| 2022 | 137 | 1,366 |
| 2023 | 112 | 1,559 |
| 2024 | 113 | 1,552 |
| 2025 | 117 | 1,500 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6 | 2,941 |
| 2011 | 6 | 2,892 |
| 2012 | 7 | 2,721 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2014 | 5 | 3,362 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |
| 2016 | 9 | 2,335 |
| 2017 | 14 | 1,703 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,011 |
| 2019 | 15 | 1,587 |
| 2020 | 10 | 2,076 |
| 2021 | 7 | 2,730 |
| 2022 | 6 | 3,048 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,546 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,270 |

## People named Clarence

- Clarence Seedorf, Dutch professional football manager and former player
- Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and politician (1857–1938)
- Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991
- Clarence Brown, American film director (1890–1987)
- Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist (1942–2011)
- Clarence Gilyard, American actor (1955–2022)
- Clarence Zener, American physicist
- Clarence Nash, American voice actor (1904–1985)
- Clarence Goodson, American soccer player
- Clarence Williams III, American actor (1939–2021)
- Clarence White, American musician (1944–1973)
- Clarence Birdseye, American inventor (1886–1956)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.