Cloe
A feminine name of French origin meaning "young green shoot".
Name Census estimates that about 3,525 living Americans carry the first name Cloe. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cloe today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cloe births was 2008 (300 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cloe. 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 Cloe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,235 Americans
Peak year
2008
300 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
1918 SSA rank
#2,772
Tracked since 1883
Census
Cloe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,851 people with the first name Cloe, which placed it at #4,719 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
#4,719
National first-name rank
People counted
3.9K
3,851 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cloe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cloe is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Cloe 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 Cloe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.7% · 2,607
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 642
- Black or African American6.6% · 256
- Two or more races5.5% · 211
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 92
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 43
Gender
Gender distribution for Cloe
Out of the 3,865 babies given the name Cloe since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Cloe as a male name
- Ranked #4,295 in 1918
- 5 male births in 1918
- Peak: 1918 (5 births)
Cloe as a female name
- Ranked #2,772 in 2024
- 61 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (300 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cloe appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,856 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Cloe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cloe from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,200 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cloe 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 Cloe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cloes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Cloe, while Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cloe
The name Cloe has its origins in the Greek language and culture, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is a feminine variant of the Greek name Chloe, which is derived from the Greek word "chloros," meaning "green shoot" or "blooming."
In Greek mythology, Chloe was the name of a beautiful nymph associated with spring and new growth. The name is also mentioned in several ancient Greek texts, including the pastoral romance novel "Daphnis and Chloe" by Longus, written in the 3rd century AD.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Cloe can be traced back to the Byzantine era, where it was used among the Greek-speaking population of the Eastern Roman Empire. One notable historical figure with this name was Cloe Eudocia, a Byzantine empress and consort of Emperor Theodosius II, who lived in the 5th century AD.
Throughout history, the name Cloe has been borne by several notable individuals, including Cloe Elmo (1903-1962), an American actress and dancer who appeared in Ziegfeld Follies productions, and Cloe Litchfield (1918-2012), an American painter and sculptor known for her abstract expressionist works.
In literature, the name Cloe has been used by authors such as William Shakespeare, who featured a character named Cloë in his play "The Comedy of Errors," and Samuel Richardson, whose novel "Clarissa" featured a character named Cloë Harlowe.
Another notable bearer of the name Cloe was Cloë Lucilles (1868-1910), a French soprano who performed in several operas and concerts in Paris and throughout Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In more recent times, the name Cloe has been carried on by individuals like Cloe Sevigny, an American actress and fashion designer born in 1974, and Cloe Grace Moretz, an American actress born in 1997 who has appeared in films such as "Kick-Ass" and "Carrie."
People
Cloe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cloe 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
Cloe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cloe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,525 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cloe 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 97,235 US residents.
Is Cloe a common name?
We classify Cloe as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,865 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cloe most popular?
The single biggest year for Cloe was 2008, when 300 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cloe is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cloe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,851 people with the name Cloe, or 1.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,719 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 Cloe 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 Cloe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cloe appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,856 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Cloe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cloe is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Cloe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cloe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.7% (2,607 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 Cloe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cloe a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Cloe in the SSA data are female. 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 Cloe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cloe 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 Cloe 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 Cloe?
Find out how many people have the name Cloe on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.