Clark
A masculine name derived from clerk, referring to a cleric or scholar.
Name Census estimates that about 35,286 living Americans carry the first name Clark. It sits at #437 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Clark today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clark births was 2015 (883 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clark. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Clark with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Clark is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 336 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
35K
~ 1 in 9,714 Americans
Peak year
2015
883 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#437
Tracked since 1880
Census
Clark in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 32,401 people with the first name Clark, which placed it at #1,202 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,202
National first-name rank
People counted
32K
32,401 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clark
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clark is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.1%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Clark described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Clark at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.9% · 26,846
- Black or African American6.1% · 1,976
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 1,299
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,180
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 900
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 200
Gender
Gender distribution for Clark
Out of the 50,351 babies given the name Clark since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Clark as a male name
- Ranked #437 in 2024
- 725 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (880 births)
Clark as a female name
- Ranked #5,972 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clark leans strongly male. 31,978 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 420 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Clark: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clark from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,004 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Clark remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clark by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Clark during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clarks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Clark, while Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 872 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clark
The name Clark is an English name with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "clerc" or "clerk," which referred to a scholar or a member of the clergy. The name Clark was originally an occupational surname given to those who worked as clerks, scribes, or in clerical roles.
During the medieval period, clerks were highly respected individuals as they were among the few who were literate and able to read and write. They often served in churches, monasteries, and royal courts, responsible for maintaining records, transcribing texts, and handling official documents.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Clark can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Several individuals with the surname "Clericus" or "Clerk" were documented in this historical record.
In the 12th century, the name Clark appeared in the writings of the renowned English historian and scholar, William of Malmesbury. He mentioned a clerk named "Clericus" who served as a secretary to the Bishop of Winchester.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Clark. One of the earliest was John Clark (c. 1292-1358), an English clergyman and politician who served as the Bishop of Bath and Wells in the 14th century.
Another prominent figure was Abraham Clark (1726-1794), an American politician and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress.
In the 19th century, William Clark (1770-1838) was an American explorer and soldier best known for his participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States.
William Bullock Clark (1860-1917) was a renowned American educator and author who served as the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) and wrote several influential works on agriculture and rural life.
Walter Clark (1846-1924) was a prominent American jurist who served as the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1903 to 1924, known for his contributions to the development of legal principles and his advocacy for social justice.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Clark
People
Clark + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clark as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Clark: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clark?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clark going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 9,714 US residents.
Is Clark a common name?
We classify Clark as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50,351 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clark most popular?
The single biggest year for Clark was 2015, when 883 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clark is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clark in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 32,401 people with the name Clark, or 10.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,202 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Clark in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Clark?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clark leans strongly male. 31,978 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 420 female bearers (1.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Clark?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clark is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Black (6.1%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Clark most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clark in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (26,846 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Clark in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clark a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Clark in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Clark still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clark in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Clark can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Clark?
Find out how many people share the name Clark on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.