Clayson
Son of the clay worker or potter.
Name Census estimates that about 218 living Americans carry the first name Clayson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Clayson today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clayson births was 2021 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clayson. 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.
People living today
218
~ 1 in 1,572,268 Americans
Peak year
2021
14 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,057
Tracked since 1987
Census
Clayson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Clayson, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clayson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayson is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Clayson 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 Clayson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.3% · 177
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 14
- Black or African American5.5% · 13
- Two or more races5.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 7
Popularity
Clayson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clayson from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 78 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Clayson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clayson 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 Clayson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clayson
The name Clayson is believed to have its origins in the English language, dating back to the late 18th or early 19th century. It is a variant of the surname Clay, which itself is derived from the Old English word "claeg," meaning "clay" or "clayey soil." The addition of the suffix "-son" suggests a patronymic origin, indicating that Clayson was initially used as a surname to denote "son of Clay."
As a given name, Clayson is relatively rare and its earliest recorded use is difficult to pinpoint with certainty. However, some historical references suggest that it may have been used as a first name in certain regions of England during the 19th century, possibly among families with ties to the pottery or ceramic industries, where the association with clay would have been particularly relevant.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Clayson was Clayson Honywood (1801-1867), an English barrister and Member of Parliament for Kent. Another notable figure was Clayson Comyn (1826-1892), a British architect who designed several notable buildings in London and the surrounding areas.
In the United States, one of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Clayson was Clayson Merrick (1829-1901), a businessman and politician who served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in the late 19th century.
Other notable individuals with the name Clayson include:
1. Clayson Prentiss (1854-1919), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly.
2. Clayson Deburghgraeve (1873-1941), a Belgian artist and painter known for his landscapes and portraits.
3. Clayson Hendrickson (1884-1962), an American architect who designed several notable buildings in the Midwest, including the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan.
4. Clayson Trumbull (1898-1976), an American journalist and author who wrote extensively on topics related to Native American history and culture.
5. Clayson Peavy (1921-2008), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Peavy Corporation, a major lumber and building materials company.
It's important to note that while these individuals may have been notable in their respective fields, the name Clayson remains relatively uncommon, and its usage as a given name appears to have been limited primarily to certain regions and time periods.
People
Clayson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clayson 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
Clayson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clayson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 218 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clayson 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 1,572,268 US residents.
Is Clayson a common name?
We classify Clayson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clayson most popular?
The single biggest year for Clayson was 2021, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clayson is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clayson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Clayson, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Clayson 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 Clayson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clayson leans strongly male. 230 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Clayson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clayson is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Clayson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clayson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (177 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 Clayson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clayson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Clayson 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 Clayson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clayson 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 Clayson 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 have Clayson as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Clayson, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.