Given name & surname · also Latin
Claude
“one who is lame”
Claude is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “one who is lame.”
Original LatinClaudius
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “one who is lame.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Latin.
How it developed
In French usage, Claude is a diminutive of Claudette. In English usage, Claude developed from Claudius.
The story
The name’s historical associations include various early saints.
Claude through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 92,289
- 91,337 boys · 952 girls
- Most popular year
- 1920
- 1,910 babies
- 2025
- 40
- #3,044 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −20%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 40 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,044 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 19.8% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 1,893 in 1920. In 2025, Georgia and Texas shared the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (5 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 33,429 as a first name in 2020; 2,060 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Claude’s family of names
In French usage, Claude is a diminutive of Claudette. Claude shares a linguistic root with Claudio. In French usage, Claude has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Claudia.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Claude has relatives in 25 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
Latinwhere Claude comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 18
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 21
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Claude
- Claude DebussyFrench classical composer (1862–1918)
- Claude Lévi-StraussFrench anthropologist and ethnologist (1908–2009)
- Claude SimonFrench writer (1913–2005)
- Claudia CardinaleItalian actress (1938–2025)
- Claude BernardFrench physiologist (1813-1878)
- Claude Adrien HelvétiusFrench philosopher; (1715-1771)
- Claude Joseph Rouget de LisleFrench army officer (1760-1836)
- Claude Cohen-TannoudjiFrench physicist (1933-)
- Claude ShannonAmerican mathematician and information theorist (1916–2001)
Characters named Claude: Claude (protagonist of the 2001 video game Grand Theft Auto III), Claude Frollo (fictional character), Claude Frollo (Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Claude, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Judge
“one who sits in judgment of others”
>99% boys
Elden
“an old friend”
>99% boys
Christ
“[the] anointed [one]”
98% boys · 2% girls
Wilfred
“one who wishes for peace”
>99% boys
Horace
“the keeper of time”
>99% boys
Elton
“a spontaneous woman” · “from the old town”
99% boys · 1% girls
Chester
“from the camp of the soldiers”
>99% boys
Maurice
“a dark-skinned man; Moorish”
>99% boys