Clayborn
Masculine
Clayborn is a surname with a letter or two shed, and its first syllable is a material that is responsible for most of what anybody knows about the ancient near east. Clay survived by being burned.
How old is the name Clayborn?
Clayborn first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Clayborn alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 300 people named Clayborn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clayborn most popular?
Clayborn peaked in 1909, reaching #1440 nationally. See the whole 1909 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Clayborn
Mesopotamian scribes wrote on damp clay with a reed stylus, and the tablets were then usually just dried in the sun, which left them fragile and reusable. What preserved them was catastrophe: when a palace or a temple burned, the fire fired the clay, turning perishable documents into ceramic. Entire archives survive because the building housing them was destroyed. Libraries that were never burned have largely dissolved back into mud. So the written record of three thousand years of administration, law, literature and school exercises exists in the proportion that it does because of a series of disasters, which is an unsettling thing for an archivist to think about.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The surname is generally traced to an English place name and the derivation is reasonably secure. This spelling is not documented and no reason for the altered ending has been recorded.
Pronouncing Clayborn
KLAY-born
Two syllables with the stress in front. Nothing in it invites hesitation.
Nicknames for Clayborn
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 197121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1440reached in 1909
- Change vs 2000
- 0.0%5 in 2015, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Clayborns among us
people named Clayborn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Clayborn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Clay comes off the front as a short form and is established in its own right.
- It is read correctly at first sight and never needs spelling out loud.
- It sits in the familiar family of surnames Americans use in front position.
- Claiborne and Clayborne are both in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you.
- It reads as a surname to most listeners, which suits some families and not others.
- No origin is documented for this form, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Clayborn
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Clayborns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Clayborn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clayborn in 2025?
- Clayborn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Clayborn with classmates?
- Clayborn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clayborn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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