Cleotha
Feminine
Cleotha is given to both — 292 girls and 750 boys since 1880. See Cleotha as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Cleotha is recorded for boys and girls alike and opens with a Greek word that has been making names for three thousand years. The ending is another matter, and nobody has accounted for it.
How old is the name Cleotha?
Cleotha first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Cleotha alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Cleotha are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Cleotha most popular?
Cleotha peaked in 1933, reaching #2052 nationally. See the whole 1933 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Cleotha
Kleos in Greek is glory, specifically the kind that consists of being spoken about after you are dead, and it is one of the central ideas of the Homeric poems: a hero chooses a short life with kleos over a long one without. The word literally means something heard, from the same root as the English listen and loud, so the glory is the report of you rather than any inner quality. It opens a long list of Greek names, and the same element turns up across the Indo-European family, including in the Slavic names ending in -slav. It is a name element about being talked about.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is the Greek kleos, glory or fame, which is documented and opens Cleopatra, Cleon and Cleanthes. The ending is not identified and this combination is not recorded anywhere.
Pronouncing Cleotha
klee-OH-thuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The th is the soft one, as in thin.
Nicknames for Cleotha
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 193315 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2052reached in 1933
- Change vs 1963
- 0.0%5 in 1973, 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.
Cleothas among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Cleotha are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Cleotha 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
- Cleo comes off the front as a short form and works for a child of either sex.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it leaves a question open rather than closing it.
- Three open syllables carry well and are easy to hear across a room.
- Most children with this spelling are boys, but a real minority are girls; either may be taken for the other.
- It reads as a name of a much older generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- The ending is not documented, so the meaning question can only be half answered.
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Cleotha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Cleothas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Cleotha are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Cleotha in 2025?
- Cleotha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Cleotha with classmates?
- Cleotha 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 Cleotha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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