Claude
2025 SSA
Below 5 births
About Claude
Claude is a soft-spoken French name that conjures up the pastel colors of Monet and harmonies of Debussy. In France, it is used for girls as well, in fact in the Tracy Chevalier novel Lady and the Unicorn, the protagonist is a female Claude.
Claude for boys#3044 US
Claudes have appeared in such iconic movies as Chinatown and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Actor Simon Baker has a son named Claude Blue.
A French classic, Claude was also a top 100 name in the U.S. until 1922.
The attractive Italian version Claudio is occasionally heard in this country, and Claudius is the original Latin--which could be restored in the current Latin-loving climate. While "lame" is the most widely-acknowledged meaning, some etymologists theorize that the name may relate to the word for enclosure or clause, an alternate meaning that may appeal to a child with a form of this otherwise-appealing name.
Claude for girls
Yes, we tend to think of Claude as a male name and Claudia and Claudette as the female, but this ancient clan name is used in France for girls as well as boys, and could make a distinctively chic boy name for girls here too. You may be surprised to know that Claude was in fairly regular use for American girls in the 1880's and nineties, reaching as high as 553 in 1880.
In her native country, there have been some famous female Claudes, including Queen Claude of France (1499 to 1524), daughter of Louis XII, and another sixteenth century Claude de France, daughter of Henri II.
Later Claudes include the daughter of Claude Debussy, Claude-Emma (called Chouchou), the leading female character in Tracy Chevalier's novel Lady and the Unicorn, French actress Claude Jade and photographer Claude Cahun, and the widow of French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.
While the "lame" meaning is the most widely acknowledged, some etymologists theorize that the name may relate to the word for enclosure or clause, an alternate meaning that may appeal to a child with a form of this otherwise-appealing name.
Pronounced KLOHD.
As of October 2026, Claude ranked #3044 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #46 in 1887, Nameberry popularity #261.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank · boys | Births · boys | US rank · girls | Births · girls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #2,815 | 42 | — | 0 |
| 2015 | #2,432 | 52 | — | 0 |
| 2016 | #2,368 | 55 | — | 0 |
| 2017 | #2,965 | 40 | — | 0 |
| 2018 | #2,515 | 51 | — | 0 |
| 2019 | #2,903 | 42 | — | 0 |
| 2020 | #2,768 | 44 | — | 0 |
| 2021 | #3,133 | 38 | — | 0 |
| 2022 | #3,423 | 34 | — | 0 |
| 2023 | #3,126 | 39 | — | 0 |
| 2024 | #3,332 | 35 | — | 0 |
| 2025 | #3,044 | 40 | — | 0 |
World rankings
Claude for boys
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Claude on lists
Famous Claudes
- (OscarBoy
)Claude Monet, French impressionist painter
- (AchilleBoy
)Claude Debussy, French composer
- Claude KellyBoy
American singer,songwriter
- (William) Claude RainsBoy
English actor
- Festus Claudius "Claude" McKayBoy
Jamaican,American novelist
- Claude Elwood ShannonBoy
American mathematician
- Claude MakéléléBoy
French footballer
- Claude LéviBoy
Strauss, French anthropologist
- Claude PicassoBoy
son of painter Pablo Picasso
- Claude SimonBoy
French novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Claude CohenBoy
Tannoudji, French physicist; winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Claude Blue BakerBoy
son of actors Simon Baker and Rebecca Rigg
- Claude GirouxBoy
Canadian hockey player
- Claude Indiana Emmanuel HansonBoy
son of American musician Taylor Hanson
- Claude of France (1499Girl
1524), Queen consort of Francis I of France and suo jure Duchess of Brittany, daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany
- Claude of France (1547–1575)Girl
Duchess consort of Lorraine, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici
- Claude de BectozGirl
French writer, abbess and correspondent of Francis I of France
- Claude Jacqueline PompidouGirl
wife of French President Georges Pompidou
- Claude Jade (born Claude Marcelle Jorré)Girl
French actress
- Claude GensacGirl
French actress
- Claude NollierGirl
French actress
- Claude ChiracGirl
political adviser; daughter of former French President Jacques Chirac
- ClaudeGirl
Emma "Chouchou" Debussy, daughter of composer Claude Debussy
- MarieGirl
Claude Bourbonnais, Canadian glamour model
- MarieGirl
Claude Pietragalla, French ballerina
Claude in pop culture
- Claude GianniBoy
Ray's best friend on Everybody Loves Raymond
- Claude FrolloBoy
character in Victor Hugo's Notre,Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
- Claude FaustusBoy
character in the anime/manga Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler
- Claude von RieganBoy
house leader in video game Fire Emblem Three Houses
- Claude Hooper BukowskiBoy
protagonist of musical Hair
- Princess ClaudeGirl
TV series Reign