Given name
Cletus
“one who has been summoned”
Cletus is used as a given name. One Greek interpretation is “one who has been summoned.”
Original Ancient GreekἈνάκλητος
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “one who has been summoned.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In English usage, Cletus is a short form of ANACLETUS. In English usage, Cletus developed from Ἀνάκλητος.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1886. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Cletus through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 7,709
- 7,437 boys · 272 girls
- Most popular year
- 1922
- 243 babies
- 2025
- 9
- #8,382 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +3%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 9 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 8,382 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 233 in 1922. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,679 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Cletus’s family of names
In English usage, Cletus is a short form of ANACLETUS. In English usage, Cletus developed from the Ancient Greek form Ἀνάκλητος. Cletus has a related form in Cletis.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Cletus has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Cletus comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Cleatusvariant
- Cleetusvariant
- Cletisvariant
- Cletevariant
- Clettuslikely variant
- Cleatosvariant
- Cleetosvariant
- Cleytusvariant
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Cletus
- Cletus Chandrasiri PereraSri Lankan Roman Catholic bishop1947–2026
- Cletus Joseph BenjaminAmerican prelate of the Roman Catholic Church (1909–1961)
- Cletus IbetoNigerian businessmanborn 1952
Characters named Cletus: Cletus Spuckler (The Simpsons franchise), Cletus Kasady (Marvel Comics fictional character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Cletus, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Cleon
“a well-known man”
>99% boys
Odell
“a sweet melody” · “one who is wealthy”
98% boys · 2% girls
Giles
“resembling a young goal”
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Christ
“[the] anointed [one]”
98% boys · 2% girls
Porfirio
“refers to a purple coloring”
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Theadore
Theadore is a masculine given name from Ancient Greek.
>99% boys
Isidore
“a gift of Isis”
>99% boys
Alpha
Alpha is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “the firstborn child; the first letter of the Greek alphabet.”
89% boys · 11% girls