Cleavon
A masculine name of English origin meaning "descending summit or rising ground".
Name Census estimates that about 212 living Americans carry the first name Cleavon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cleavon today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cleavon births was 1973 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cleavon. 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
212
~ 1 in 1,616,766 Americans
Peak year
1973
37 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2007 SSA rank
#12,700
Tracked since 1921
Census
Cleavon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 251 people with the first name Cleavon, which placed it at #33,109 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
#33,109
National first-name rank
People counted
251
251 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cleavon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleavon is Black at 84.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Cleavon 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 Cleavon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.1% · 211
- White5.6% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 10
- Two or more races3.6% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Cleavon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cleavon from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 134 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cleavon 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 Cleavon 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 Cleavon
The name Cleavon is a relatively modern invention, likely derived from a combination of the English name Clive and the suffix "-on." Its origins can be traced back to the late 19th or early 20th century, though its precise linguistic roots are uncertain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cleavon is Cleavon Little, an American actor and comedian born in 1939. Little is best known for his starring role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 comedy film Blazing Saddles, directed by Mel Brooks. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 53.
Another notable bearer of the name Cleavon is Cleavon Gilman, an American physician and academic who served as the president of the New York Medical College from 1976 to 1986. Gilman made significant contributions to medical education and research during his tenure.
In the realm of sports, Cleavon Smith was a professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in 1955 and played a total of six seasons in the NBA.
Cleavon Bates, born in 1948, is an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 14th legislative district from 1994 to 2002. He was also the mayor of East Orange, New Jersey, from 1994 to 2004.
Another individual with this name is Cleavon Codio, a Haitian-American photographer and artist known for his work documenting the Haitian diaspora and exploring themes of identity and cultural heritage. Codio's work has been exhibited in various galleries and museums across the United States.
While the name Cleavon is not widely popular or extensively documented in historical records, these individuals have contributed to various fields, including entertainment, medicine, sports, politics, and the arts, leaving their mark on the cultural landscape.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cleavon
People
Cleavon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cleavon 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
Cleavon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cleavon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 212 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cleavon 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 1,616,766 US residents.
Is Cleavon a common name?
We classify Cleavon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cleavon most popular?
The single biggest year for Cleavon was 1973, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cleavon is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cleavon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 251 people with the name Cleavon, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,109 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 Cleavon 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 Cleavon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cleavon leans strongly male. 240 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Cleavon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleavon is Black at 84.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Cleavon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cleavon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (211 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 Cleavon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cleavon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cleavon 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 Cleavon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cleavon 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 Cleavon 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 the name Cleavon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.