Cleda
Feminine
Cleda belongs to a set of names opening with cl- that the American registers of the eighteen nineties are full of. Cleda, Cleta, Clema, Cledith, Cleora and a long tail of others appear together, in the same decades and the same regions, and almost none of them can be traced to anything. The cluster itself is the fact worth noticing.
How old is the name Cleda?
Cleda first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Cleda alive today was born around 1925, making them about 100 years old. About 300 people named Cleda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cleda most popular?
Cleda peaked in 1903, reaching #896 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Where it comes from
From A fashionable consonant cluster in the eighteen nineties to Cleda
Our story of Cleda
A consonant cluster becoming fashionable is a real thing and it is easy to miss because the names it produces look unrelated. In the eighteen nineties the cl- opening was doing what sh- would do eighty years later: it was easy to say, carried no particular association, opened a large number of existing names, and could therefore be fixed to almost any ending to produce something that sounded like a name. Families across a wide area reached for it independently, and the register fills up with a couple of dozen formations that share nothing except their first two letters. Reading them one at a time makes each look like an oddity. Reading them together makes the pattern obvious.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source can be established. It may be cut from a longer name beginning with the same cluster, it may be a home-made formation on a fashionable front, and it may be a surname. Names of this kind entered the record without explanation, and the readings sometimes printed for them are supplied rather than reported.
How the name formed
- A fashionable consonant cluster in the eighteen nineties
- A couple of dozen formations built on it
- Cleda among them, recorded without explanation
- The whole set receding within two generations
Pronouncing Cleda
KLEE-duh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long first vowel. Some families say KLED-uh with a short one instead, which the spelling permits and which sounds like a different name.
Nicknames for Cleda
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 191752 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #896reached in 1903
- Change vs 1962
- +20.0%6 in 1965, 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.
Cledas among us
people named Cleda 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
Cleda 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
- It is short, clear and immediately sayable once the vowel is settled.
- It is genuinely rare while being made of entirely familiar material.
- Cleo is available as a sideways short form with a real history of its own.
- The first vowel is genuinely ambiguous from the spelling.
- There is no meaning or origin to give, and that is the accurate answer.
- It is very firmly of the eighteen nineties and has had no revival.
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Cleda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Cledas 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 Cleda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cleda in 2025?
- Cleda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Cleda with classmates?
- Cleda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cleda? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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