Recorded 1886–2025 · United States
Cletus was most popular in 1922, when 243 American babies were given the name — ranking #801 that year. In 2025 it ranked #17,163, with 9 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 7,709 people named Cletus.
Cletus first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1886, which makes it about 139 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 132 of the 140 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 7,709 American births named Cletus between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,175 are estimated to be alive today.
9 American babies were named Cletus in 2025, ranking #17,163 that year.
Cletus is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 9 births a year across 2021–2025 against 7 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Cletus is a boy’s name — 3.5% of the 7,709 Americans given it were girls and 96.5% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 2,175 Americans named Cletus are alive today — 28% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 66 years old, and half are between 52 and 78.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Cletus on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org