Clay

maleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Clay: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Clay: Recorded every year since 1996, it reached #365 in 2019, and it stood at #577 in 2025.

4registrars recorded it
38times a registrar ranked it
30years from first to last
#365highest recorded position
10groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among boys in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Boys rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#2357
1997	#1578
1998	#1055
1999	#1505
2000	#2142
2001	#1078
2002	#1411
2003	#1248
2004	#1280
2005	#1190
2006	#2087
2007	#1756
2008	#1706
2009	#1494
2010	#1551
2011	#958
2012	#866
2013	#976
2014	#988
2015	#740
2016	#659
2017	#635
2018	#675
2019	#597
2020	#627
2021	#566
2022	#656
2023	#791
2024	#602

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Boys

Recorded in official data among boys in England and Wales in every year from 1996 to 2024.

In 2024: #535 among boys in Scotland, #602 among boys in England and Wales, #785 among boys in Republic of Ireland.

Official data from 4 national registrars across 4 regions, 1996–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #2357 among boys in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Boys
Highest recorded2017–2019
Highest recorded position: #365 among boys in Northern Ireland, in 2019 (recorded 2017–2019).
Northern Ireland · Boys
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #577 among boys in Republic of Ireland, in 2025.
Republic of Ireland · Boys

Clay appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Boys, which has ranked it in 29 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 834 births with the name.

Clay across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Clay's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Boys	#2357 (1996)	#566 (2021)	#602 (2024)	29 of 29	834 (1996–2024)	68 (2021)
Republic of Ireland · Boys	#749 (2018)	#552 (2021)	#577 (2025)	6 of 8	24 (2018–2025)	5 (2021)
Northern Ireland · Boys	#415 (2017)	#365 (2019)	#365 (2019)	2 of 3	7 (2017–2019)	4 (2019)

Clay by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Clay in England and Wales · Boys, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	32	4 of 10	8
2000s	119	10 of 10	12
2010s	403	10 of 10	40
2020sbusiest	280	5 of 10	56

Across England and Wales · Boys, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 56 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Clay appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #365 in Northern Ireland in 2019.

Clay's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	male	#602	63	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	male	#791	41	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	male	#656	53	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	male	#566	68	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	male	#627	55	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	male	#597	62	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	male	#675	51	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	male	#635	56	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#659	53	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	male	#740	44	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	male	#988	29	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	male	#976	29	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	male	#866	35	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	male	#958	29	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	male	#1551	15	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	male	#1494	15	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	male	#1706	12	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	male	#1756	11	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	male	#2087	8	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	male	#1190	17	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	male	#1280	14	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	male	#1248	13	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	male	#1411	10	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	male	#1078	14	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	male	#2142	5	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	male	#1505	8	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	male	#1055	13	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	male	#1578	7	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	male	#2357	4	High	Verified
2019	Northern Ireland	male	#365	4	High	Verified
2017	Northern Ireland	male	#415	3	High	Verified
2025	Republic of Ireland	male	#577	5	High	Verified
2024	Republic of Ireland	male	#785	3	High	Verified
2021	Republic of Ireland	male	#552	5	High	Verified
2020	Republic of Ireland	male	#637	4	High	Verified
2019	Republic of Ireland	male	#646	4	High	Verified
2018	Republic of Ireland	male	#749	3	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	male	#535	5	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 4 registrars between 1996 and 2025, ranked in 30 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #365, first reached in 2019.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 68 births, registered in England and Wales in 2021.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2017, and 28 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Claudine · #232, 28y
Claus · #213, 39y
Clayton · #100, 35y
Clea · #907, 24y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 4 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Kaila · #365, 29y
Aliya · #367, 30y
Callen · #363, 27y
Gracie-Mae · #368, 25y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Amy-Rose · #365, 23y
Chardonnay · #365, 22y
Kaila · #365, 29y
Mary-Jane · #365, 28y

Clay was ranked #365 in Northern Ireland · Boys in 2019. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Clay and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Clay without appearing here.

Clay moved ahead of

Brent Compare
In 2007 they stood at #1756 and #1756 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2008 that had become #1706 and #3687.
Leif Compare
In 2007 they stood at #1756 and #1578 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2008 that had become #1706 and #3687.
Herman Compare
In 1997 they stood at #2357 and #2357 in England and Wales · Boys; by 1998 that had become #1055 and #2901.
Henrik Compare
In 2009 they stood at #1494 and #1494 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2010 that had become #1551 and #3332.

Moved ahead of Clay

Kasper Compare
In 2005 they stood at #1190 and #1617 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2006 that had become #2087 and #1168.
Cooper Compare
In 1999 they stood at #1505 and #1850 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2000 that had become #2142 and #1425.
Arlo Compare
In 2001 they stood at #1078 and #1949 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2002 that had become #1411 and #848.
Hudson Compare
In 2002 they stood at #1411 and #2005 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2003 that had become #1248 and #1092.

Moved the opposite way to Clay

Aaron Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 while Aaron went from #33 to #154.
Adam Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 while Adam went from #16 to #35.
Alan Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 while Alan went from #163 to #592.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 while Alex went from #43 to #171.

Moved the same way as Clay

Albie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 and Albie from #853 to #19.
Alfie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 and Alfie from #119 to #16.
Alfred Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 and Alfred from #218 to #81.
Archie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Clay went from #2357 to #602 and Archie from #192 to #10.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #365 in Northern Ireland in 2019. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Clay

Clay at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Clay across 3 official records

Clay by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Clay appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Clay

Clay and the names beside it

Clay moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Clay

Moved the opposite way to Clay

Moved the same way as Clay

Clay at a glance

Clay across 3 official records

Clay by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Clay appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Clay

Clay and the names beside it

Clay moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Clay

Moved the opposite way to Clay

Moved the same way as Clay