Cleon
Masculine · “Greek kleos”
Cleon is given to both — 3,000 boys and 189 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Kleos is the whole argument of the Iliad. It means the fame that is spoken of a man after his death, and it is the only immortality the poem offers; Achilles chooses a short life with kleos over a long one without. Cleon is built on that word.
How old is the name Cleon?
Cleon first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Cleon alive today was born around 1941, making them about 84 years old. About 1,300 people named Cleon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cleon most popular?
Cleon peaked in 1903, reaching #656 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 9,058 places below that high. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kleos to Cleon
The story of Cleon
Kleos comes from a verb meaning to hear, so it is not glory in the abstract but what people say about a man and go on saying. The Iliad turns on it. Achilles knows he can go home and live long unremembered or stay at Troy and die young with kleos aphthiton, imperishable fame, and the poem itself is the fulfillment of the bargain: he is remembered because it exists. That makes the epic self-referential in a way ancient audiences understood clearly, since the poet is the mechanism by which the reward is delivered. The element is everywhere in Greek naming, in Pericles, glory around, Sophocles, glory of wisdom, Themistocles, glory of law, and Cleopatra, glory of the father. Cleon the Athenian politician, whom Thucydides and Aristophanes both detested, is the best known bearer.
Meaning
Greek kleos, glory or fame
Cleon is from Greek Kleon, built on kleos, glory, renown or what is heard said about someone. The element appears in Pericles, Themistocles, Sophocles, Cleopatra and Damocles. Kleos derives from a root meaning to hear, so the fame in question is specifically what is spoken and repeated. The American peak is 1903.
How the name formed
- kleos
- Kleon
- Cleon
Related forms: Kleon · Cleon
Pronouncing Cleon
KLEE-on
Two syllables, stress on the first. Greek stresses the second, kle-ON. The initial kl cluster is straightforward in English.
Nicknames for Cleon
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 192175 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #656reached in 1903
- Change vs 2022
- −30.0%7 in 2025, from 10
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.
Cleon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kleon in Greek — same name
- Cleon in Spanish — same name
Cleons among us
people named Cleon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Cleon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cleon
- #9714
- Cleon on the 2025 chart
- #916
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cleon went to 7 boys in 2025, but Kleon is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 916th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,798 places above the chart.
- Cleon7
- Kleon5
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Cleon itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Cleon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Cleon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cleon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Leon is available inside it as a familiar name.
- The Greek meaning is central and fully documented.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to say.
- Greek and English stress it differently.
- The Athenian politician of the name had a poor reputation.
- The 1903 peak places it over a century ago.
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Cleon
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cleons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Cleon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cleon?
- Cleon is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kleon.
- How popular is the name Cleon in 2025?
- Cleon ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cleon?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Cleon — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cleon with classmates?
- Cleon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cleon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cleon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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