Cleophas
Masculine · “renowned father”
Cleophas is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 960 boys against 23 girls since 1880.
Cleophas belongs to a man who appears twice in the New Testament, or possibly to two men who appear once each. Which of those it is has been argued for eighteen centuries, and the argument matters, because on one reading he was a member of the family.
How old is the name Cleophas?
Cleophas first appears in US birth records in 1906 — 119 years ago. The typical Cleophas alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 300 people named Cleophas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cleophas most popular?
Cleophas peaked in 1907, reaching #1200 nationally. See the whole 1907 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Greek name built on kleos, renown, or a Semitic name rendered into Greek to Cleophas
The story of Cleophas
Hegesippus, writing in the second century and preserved by the historian Eusebius, states that Clopas was the brother of Joseph — the husband of Mary — and that Clopas's son Symeon was chosen to lead the church in Jerusalem after James was killed. If that is right, then the leadership of the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem passed from one relative of Jesus to another, and the man carrying this name was an uncle. Whether the Clopas of that account is the same person as the Cleopas who walks the road to Emmaus in Luke's gospel is a separate question, and a genuinely open one: the spellings differ by a letter in Greek, the two figures are never linked in the text, and serious readers have argued both ways since antiquity. The name therefore comes with an unresolved identity attached, which is rare and rather interesting for a name still given to children.
Meaningscholars disagree
renowned father
The usual reading takes the name as a shortened Greek compound built on kleos, glory or renown, with a second element meaning father — the same first element that gives Cleopatra. That works if the name is Greek. If it is instead a Greek rendering of a Semitic name, as some scholars argue for the form spelled Clopas, then the Greek reading is a coincidence of sound and the real meaning is lost. The two spellings and the two explanations have been entangled since the earliest commentaries.
How the name formed
- A Greek name built on kleos, renown, or a Semitic name rendered into Greek
- Clopas appears in John's gospel; Cleopas in Luke's
- Hegesippus names Clopas as the brother of Joseph
- Latin fixes the spelling Cleophas, with a ph
- American records carry the name for sons, and occasionally for daughters
Related forms: Kleopas · Cleophas · Cléophas · Cleofás
Pronouncing Cleophas
KLEE-oh-fus
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The ph is simply an f — it is a Latin convention for writing a Greek letter and never indicated a separate sound. Some French-influenced American families stress the last syllable instead, klay-oh-FAHS.
Nicknames for Cleophas
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
- 1906
- Most boys named
- 192331 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1200reached in 1907
- Change vs 1986
- −28.6%5 in 1987, from 7
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.
Cleophas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kleopas in Greek — same name
- Cleophas in Latin — transliteration
- Cléophas in French — related form
- Cleofás in Spanish — related form
Cleophass among us
people named Cleophas 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
Cleophas 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
- A genuinely ancient name with a documented and unusual history
- The short form Cleo is fashionable, easy and completely portable
- Distinctive in a way that comes from age rather than from invention
- It reads as strongly biblical and formal, and the full form is unlikely to survive daily use.
- The ph will be written as an f by people who have only heard the name.
- The spelling is recorded for daughters as well as sons, so a written list carries no reliable signal.
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Cleophas
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Cleophass 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 Cleophas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cleophas in 2025?
- Cleophas is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Cleophas with classmates?
- Cleophas 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 Cleophas? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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