Clay Boy
How popular is Clay?
#573 boy name in 2025
515 baby boys were named Clay in the US in 2025, making it the 573rd most popular boy name.
Clay popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #573 for boys (▼ 29 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 515 boys |
| 10-year trend | Rising fast (+51% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #720 in 2015, #644 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1960 (904 boys) |
| Highest rank | #259 in 1961 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.4% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Clay counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Clay family of names ranked #494 for boys in 2025 (#481 the year before), with 599 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Clay | 515 | 86% |
| Klay | 84 | 14% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Clay is most popular
Babies named Clay per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Iowa: 1.2 per 1,000 (83 boys)
- Montana: 1.0 per 1,000 (18 boys)
- West Virginia: 0.9 per 1,000 (28 boys)
- Kentucky: 0.7 per 1,000 (74 boys)
- Idaho: 0.7 per 1,000 (30 boys)
Clay by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 245 | #306 |
| 1890s | 292 | #271 |
| 1900s | 323 | #337 |
| 1910s | 1,015 | #395 |
| 1920s | 1,453 | #442 |
| 1930s | 1,188 | #509 |
| 1940s | 1,295 | #501 |
| 1950s | 4,336 | #276 |
| 1960s | 5,717 | #259 |
| 1970s | 4,330 | #352 |
| 1980s | 4,015 | #402 |
| 1990s | 5,806 | #343 |
| 2000s | 4,096 | #396 |
| 2010s | 3,266 | #682 |
| 2020s | 2,875 | #544 |
Boy names about as popular as Clay
Questions
- Is Clay a boy or girl name?
- Clay is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Clay were boys.
- How popular is the name Clay?
- 515 baby boys were named Clay in the US in 2025, making it the 573rd most popular boy name.
- When was Clay most popular?
- Clay peaked in 1960, when 904 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #259 in 1961.
- How many people are named Clay?
- 40,525 babies have been named Clay in the US since 1880. We estimate about 32,261 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 37.
- Where is Clay most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Clay was most common in Iowa, at 1.2 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.