Recorded 1882–2013 · United States
Cleve was most popular in 1951, when 83 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,725 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 4,529 people named Cleve.
Cleve first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1882, which makes it about 143 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 126 of the 144 years since. It was last recorded in 2013.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 4,529 American births named Cleve 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 1,736 are estimated to be alive today.
Cleve was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Cleve is out of use. It averaged 5 births a year a decade ago and has not been recorded in the last five years.
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 Cleve is a boy’s name — 0.5% of the 4,529 Americans given it were girls and 99.5% were 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 1,736 Americans named Cleve are alive today — 38% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 65 years old, and half are between 51 and 75.
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 Cleve on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org