Cleland
From a Scottish surname meaning "rocky hill" or "rough land".
Name Census estimates that about 39 living Americans carry the first name Cleland. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cleland today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cleland births was 1918 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cleland. 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 Cleland is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Clelands were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cleland. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
39
~ 1 in 8,788,573 Americans
Peak year
1918
17 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1956 SSA rank
#3,262
Tracked since 1914
Census
Cleland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144 people with the first name Cleland, which placed it at #46,371 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
#46,371
National first-name rank
People counted
144
144 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cleland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleland is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Cleland 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 Cleland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.5% · 113
- Black or African American10.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.9% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 4
- Two or more races2.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 1
Popularity
Cleland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cleland from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 90 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
Cleland 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 Cleland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clelands live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cleland
The given name Cleland has its roots in the Scottish Gaelic language, originating from the words "clach" meaning stone and "lann" meaning enclosure or homestead. It is believed to have first emerged in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century, in the Scottish Highlands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland from 1264, which mentions a person named "Cleland de Govan". This suggests that the name was already in use by that time, likely referring to someone who lived near a stone enclosure or settlement.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Cleland. One of the most famous was John Cleland (1709-1789), an English novelist and philosopher best known for his erotic novel "Fanny Hill" published in 1748. Despite its controversial content, the book is considered an important work of English literature.
Another prominent figure was William Cleland (1661-1689), a Scottish poet and soldier who served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Cameronian Regiment during the Williamite War in Ireland. He was killed in action at the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.
In the realm of science, John Cleland (1835-1925) was an Australian botanist and educator who made significant contributions to the study of Australian flora. He served as the director of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney for over 20 years.
Ralph Cleland (1892-1971) was an American herpetologist and zoologist who specialized in the study of amphibians and reptiles. He worked at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and wrote several books on the subject.
Lastly, Clarissa Cleland (1939-2018) was a Canadian politician and community activist who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1989 to 2004, representing the riding of Edmonton-Ellerslie.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who carried the given name Cleland, showcasing its rich heritage and diverse applications across various fields and cultures.
People
Cleland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cleland 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
Cleland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cleland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cleland 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 8,788,573 US residents.
Is Cleland a common name?
We classify Cleland as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 246 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cleland most popular?
The single biggest year for Cleland was 1918, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cleland is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cleland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144 people with the name Cleland, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,371 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 Cleland 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 Cleland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cleland leans strongly male. 136 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 3 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Cleland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cleland is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.9%). 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 Cleland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cleland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (113 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 Cleland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cleland a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cleland 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 Cleland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cleland 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 Cleland 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 Americans are named Cleland?
Want to know how many people have the name Cleland? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.