Cleona
Feminine · “glory”
The kleos inside this name is one of the largest words in Greek. It means glory, but specifically the glory a poem confers — the fame that outlives a person because someone sang about them. Achilles chooses a short life with kleos over a long one without it, and the whole of Homer runs on that calculation. Cleona is a nineteenth-century American extension of a name built on it.
How old is the name Cleona?
Cleona first appears in US birth records in 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Cleona alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 200 people named Cleona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cleona most popular?
Cleona peaked in 1911, reaching #1071 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,137 places below that high. See the whole 1911 chart.
Where it comes from
From kleos to Cleona
The story of Cleona
Cleo came into English as a short form of Cleopatra and of the muse Clio, and by the nineteenth century it was being given outright. American naming then did what it does with any short name: it added endings. Cleona, Cleota, Cleone and Cleoma all appear in the record around the turn of the twentieth century, most of them fading within a generation. The -ona ending was widely productive at that moment, giving Ramona, Winona and Leona their shape as well. There is also a village called Cleona in Pennsylvania, which may have contributed.
Meaning
glory, fame won in song
From the Greek kleos, glory or renown — the word that closes Pericles, Sophocles and Damocles, and opens Cleopatra, which means glory of the father. Greek distinguished this from ordinary reputation: kleos is what survives a person because it is repeated, which is why it was so tightly bound to poetry.
How the name formed
- kleos
- Cleo
- Cleona
Related forms: Kleio · Cleonice
Pronouncing Cleona
klee-OH-nuh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some families say CLEE-uh-nuh with the weight in front; both are heard, though the middle-stress version is much the commoner.
Nicknames for Cleona
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
- 1895
- Most girls named
- 192234 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1071reached in 1911
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Cleona in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kleio in Greek — related form
- Cleonice in Italian — related form
Cleonas among us
people named Cleona are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Cleona
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Cleona 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
Cleona beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cleona in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cleo is available as a short form and is one of the most current revived names in American use.
- The Greek word behind it is genuinely large, and the idea it names — fame conferred by song — is worth explaining.
- Three open syllables sit well after almost any surname.
- It is very rare, so a child will not meet another.
- It belongs unmistakably to the early twentieth century and carries that flavor.
- Cleona, Cleone and Cleoma all appear in old records and will be confused.
- The stress placement is unsettled, so the name is said two ways.
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What they receive
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Cleona
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cleonas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Cleona are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cleona in 2025?
- Cleona ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cleona?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Cleona — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cleona with classmates?
- Cleona will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cleona
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cleona? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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