Clovis
Feminine · “Famous in battle”
Clovis is given to both — 627 girls and 3,092 boys since 1880. See Clovis as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Clovis is the name of the first king of the Franks, and in America it traveled from a history book to a railroad town to a whole chapter of prehistory. It has two firm syllables and a long record in the American South.
How old is the name Clovis?
Clovis first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Clovis alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 200 people named Clovis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clovis most popular?
Clovis peaked in 1923, reaching #1464 nationally. See the whole 1923 chart.
Where it comes from
From Chlodowig to Clovis
The story of Clovis
Clovis united the Franks at the end of the fifth century and was baptized at Reims, and his name, in later forms, became Louis. In the early twentieth century the Santa Fe Railway founded a town in eastern New Mexico, and by local tradition a railroad official's daughter who was reading about the Frankish king suggested calling it Clovis. In the late 1920s and 1930s, at Blackwater Draw near the town, archaeologists found finely fluted spear points among the bones of mammoths, and 'Clovis' became the name of one of the earliest known cultures in the Americas. As a first name Clovis was common in the South from the nineteenth century, given mostly to boys.
Meaning
Famous in battle
Clovis is the Latinized form of the Frankish Chlodowig, from hlud, 'famous', and wig, 'battle'.
How the name formed
- Chlodowig
- Clovis
Related forms: Clovis · Louis · Ludwig
Pronouncing Clovis
KLOH-vis
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
Nicknames for Clovis
Limited
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
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 192331 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1464reached in 1923
- Change vs 1959
- +33.3%8 in 1963, 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.
Clovis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Clovis in French — same name
- Louis in French — related form
- Ludwig in German — related form
Cloviss among us
people named Clovis 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
Clovis 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 settled meaning with deep European history.
- Known to many through archaeology and a New Mexico town.
- Rare, so a Clovis is unlikely to meet another.
- It reads as an old Southern name to many Americans.
- People may mishear it as Cloves.
- Most children with this spelling are boys, but a real minority are girls; either may be taken for the other on paper.
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Clovis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Cloviss 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 Clovis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clovis in 2025?
- Clovis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Clovis with classmates?
- Clovis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clovis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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