Clovis
Masculine · “Famous in battle”
Clovis is given to both — 3,092 boys and 627 girls since 1880. See Clovis as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Clovis alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 1,100 people named Clovis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clovis most popular?
Clovis peaked in 1914, reaching #632 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 4,075 places below that high. See the whole 1914 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192370 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #632reached in 1914
- Change vs 2022
- +31.3%21 in 2025, from 16
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Cloviss among us
people named Clovis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Clovis
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
Clovis 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
Clovis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Clovis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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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What they receive
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Clovis
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
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 1,100 people named Clovis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clovis in 2025?
- Clovis ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Clovis?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Clovis — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Clovis with classmates?
- Clovis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Clovis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clovis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Clovis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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