Clarence

Where Clarence comes from

Originally a ducal title of the English and British royal family, from Clārensis (“from the town of Clare”), (the town of Clare, Suffolk), although it has also been associated with Italian Chiarenza, Clarentza, &c., a former fortress and settlement in the medieval Frankish Principality of Achaea in Greece.
— Wiktionary's entry for Clarence
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #21 among boys — 730 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1905
    Peak, #17
    1,377 babies named Clarence — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1948
    Clarence Thomas born
    Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991
  4. 1976
    Clarence Seedorf born
    Dutch association football player and manager
  5. 1985
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #303.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Clarence Seedorf · Dutch association football player and manager, born 1976
  • Clarence Thomas · Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991, born 1948
  • Clarence Darrow · American lawyer and politician, 1857–1938
  • Clarence Brown · American film director, 1890–1987
  • Clarence Clemons · American saxophonist, 1942–2011

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.