Clay

English word name; diminutive of Clayton

"boundary with clover"

Clay Origin and Meaning

The name Clay is a boy's name of English origin.

Clay is a rich, earthy one-syllable name with a southern-inflected handsome-rogue image, featured on soap operas and reality TV. Its longer forms are Clayton and Clayborne.

There have been TV characters called Clay on The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, and 13 Reasons Why, and the name's most prominent recent bearers are American Idol Clay (born Clayton) Aiken and Green Bay Packer linebacker Clay (born William Clay) Matthews.

Clay Rank in US Top 1000

# 543 in the US

Clay Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 560 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Clay

• 543 US 2024
• 560 Nameberry 2025
• 557 Future 2028
• 607 England 2024

20 Names Similar to Clay

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Clay.

• Gunner
• Zeke
• Duke
• Ronnie
• Wade
• Dallas
• Brock
• Colt
• Chandler
• Drew
• Bailey
• Mac
• Pierce
• Harley
• Casey
• Jay
• Cash
• Ray
• Drake
• Denver

Famous People Named Clay

• Clayton Allen "Clay" Hensley American baseball player
• Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken American pop singer, TV personality, and politician
• (William) Clay Matthews Jr. and III American NFL football players
• Ernest Clayton "Clay" Walker American country music singer
• Clay Daniel Buchholz American baseball player
• Douglas "Clay" Cook American country musician of the Zac Brown Band
• Gianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni Swiss racing driver
• Clay Greenbush American actor
• Clay Honeycutt contestant on "Big Brother" season 17
• Clay Hart American singer/guitarist from "The Lawrence Welk Show"
• Clay Clement (born Claudius Geiger) American stage, film, and TV actor
• Clay Minecraft YouTube personality who goes by “Dream”

The name Clay in Pop Culture

• Clayton "Clay" Evans character on TV's "One Tree Hill"
• Clay Bailey character in animated series "Xiaolin Showdown"
• Clay Morrow character on TV's "Sons of Anarchy"
• Caduceus Clay character in Critical Role
• Clay Simons character in video game "Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned"
• Clay Jensen main character in "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
• Clay main character in Bret Easton Ellis' "Less Than Zero"
• Clay Clemmens character on TV's "The New Normal"
• Clay Gym Leader in the Pokemon video games
• Clay character in anime "Soul Eater Not!'
• Clay Terran character in video game series "Ace Attorney"
• Clay Puffington main character in animated series "Moral Orel"
• Clay Haas character in TV's "Quantico"
• Clay Kaczmarek character in video game series "Assassin's Creed"
• Clay dragon character in children's literature series Wings Of Fire