How Many People Are Named Clay Smith?
There are approximately 257 people named Clay Smith living in the United States today. That makes this name combination uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 1,333,674 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Clay with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Smith. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census background data where it is available.
Estimated People with This Name
257
1 in 1,333,674 Americans
Combination Rarity
Uncommon
First Name
View full profileClay
Last Name
View full profileSmith
Clay: Popularity Over Time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Clay. The peak year was 1960 with 911 births. The average person named Clay today is 40 years old.
Ancestry of the First Name Clay
In the 2020 Census, the first name Clay was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (87.47%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (4.42%) and Two or More Races (3.39%).
These percentages describe the people who had the first name Clay in the 2020 Census. They do not tell you the deeper origin or meaning of the name itself.
Read this as a snapshot of who already had the name in 2020, not as a trend line. The SSA chart above is still the better way to see how Clay rose or fell over time.
Ancestry of the Smith Surname
The surname Smith was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White in the 2020 Census.
This is a self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people who had the surname Smith in the published Census surname tables. It gives useful context around who was recorded with the name, but it does not tell the full family history of every Boone line.
How we calculated this
The first name "Clay" has an estimated frequency of < 0.0001% among living Americans, based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024 adjusted for mortality using CDC 2023 life tables.
The surname "Smith" appears at a rate of 792.79 per 100,000 people in the 2020 U.S. Census.
We do not use the Census first-name snapshot for the main estimate because it is only published once every 10 years. The latest public first-name Census file is from 2020, which is already 6 years old. SSA birth records plus CDC survival data give a better current estimate of how many people with the first name Clay are likely to be alive now.
Multiplying these frequencies against the U.S. population of ~343 million gives 257 estimated people. This assumes first names and last names are statistically independent. Full methodology.
Other people named Clay
Other people with the surname Smith
Clay Smith: Questions and Answers
How many people are named Clay Smith?
We estimate approximately 257 people named Clay Smith are alive in the United States today. The first name Clay is shared by 32,439 Americans, and the surname Smith is shared by 2,717,332.
How rare is the name Clay Smith?
This name combination is classified as Uncommon, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 1,333,674 Americans. The first name Clay is uncommon and the surname Smith is very common.
Is Clay a male or female name?
Clay is predominantly male, with 99.3% of bearers being male and 0.7% female. It peaked in popularity in 1960 and the average bearer today is 40 years old.
What does the Census say about the first name Clay?
In the 2020 Census, the first name Clay was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (87.47%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (4.42%) and Two or More Races (3.39%). These percentages describe the people who had the name in the 2020 Census, not the deeper origin of the name itself.
Where does this data come from?
First name data comes from the Social Security Administration (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables. When available, first-name Census background data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau first-name tables. Surname data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Full methodology.
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