# Claus (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/claus/  
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 | Dutch |
| Meaning | “nicholas” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Klaus |
| US babies named this | 366 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 366 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Dutch and German Claus, a contraction of Nicolaus (“Nicholas”). The spelling Klaus is from more modern German Klaus and other Germanic languages.

## 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, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 11 | 2,519 |
| 1957 | 8 | 3,060 |
| 1958 | 6 | 3,606 |
| 1959 | 11 | 2,557 |
| 1960 | 5 | 4,128 |
| 1961 | 9 | 2,929 |
| 1962 | 5 | 4,139 |
| 1963 | 10 | 2,703 |
| 1964 | 7 | 3,334 |
| 1965 | 9 | 2,822 |
| 1966 | 6 | 3,590 |
| 1967 | 6 | 3,620 |
| 1968 | 6 | 3,754 |
| 1969 | 6 | 4,022 |
| 1980 | 5 | 6,413 |

## In other languages

- Bulgarian: Клаус
- Chinese: 克勞斯 /克劳斯
- Esperanto: Niĉjo
- French: Nico
- Swedish: Klas

## People named Claus

- Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, German aristocrat, army officer and resistance fighter (1907-1944)
- Claus Sluter, French artist (1340–1406)
- Claus Jensen, Danish footballer (born 1977)
- Claus von Bülow, British socialite (1926–2019)
- Claus Christiansen, Danish footballer
- Claus Holm, German actor (1918–1996)
- Claus Biederstaedt, German actor (1928–2020)
- Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Danish politician
- Claus Ogerman, German composer (1930-2016)
- Claus Roxin, German jurist (1931–2025)
- Claus Clausen, 1899-1989 German Actor
- Claus Thomsen, Danish footballer

## 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.