Clarnce
Clear, bright, or shining one.
Name Census estimates that about 239 living Americans carry the first name Clarnce. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clarnce today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clarnce births was 1929 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clarnce. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Clarnce is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Clarnces were born before 1957.
People living today
239
~ 1 in 1,434,119 Americans
Peak year
1929
36 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,030
Tracked since 1902
Popularity
Clarnce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clarnce from the 1900s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 269 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clarnce 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 Clarnce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clarnces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Clarnce, while Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clarnce
The given name Clarnce is of English origin, derived from the Latin name Clarus, meaning "bright" or "clear." It emerged during the Middle Ages, particularly in England and France, where it was often spelled with variations like Clarence or Claraunce.
The name gained significant prominence in the 12th century with Clarence, son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This association with royalty helped establish the name's aristocratic connotations. In literature, Clarnce appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in the late 14th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Clarnce was Clarnce, Duke of Clarence (1449-1478), a son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses. His tragic death, sentenced by his brother King Edward IV to be drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine, added a layer of infamy to the name.
Famous individuals named Clarnce include Clarnce Darrow (1857-1938), an American lawyer known for his role in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial and his defense of unpopular causes. Clarnce Birdseye (1886-1956) was an American inventor and entrepreneur who revolutionized the frozen food industry with his patented freezing process.
Clarnce Thomas (1923-2021) was a prominent African American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1991 to 2022. Clarnce Clemons (1942-2011) was a renowned American saxophonist and musician, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
Another notable figure was Clarnce Seedorf (born 1976), a Dutch professional football player who represented the Netherlands national team and played for several top clubs, including Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Ajax.
People
Clarnce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clarnce 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
Clarnce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clarnce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 239 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clarnce 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 1,434,119 US residents.
Is Clarnce a common name?
We classify Clarnce as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 914 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clarnce most popular?
The single biggest year for Clarnce was 1929, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clarnce is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Clarnce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clarnce a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clarnce 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 Clarnce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clarnce 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 Clarnce 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Clarnce?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.