For many more names, please Return to Edgar's Main Page.

Claude

Gender: Masculine, Feminine
Language: English, French
Etymology:
Claude is the English and French form of Claudius, a Latin name which means “Lame.”

History:
Claude has long been a favorite in France, after St. Claude of Besançon became a favorite saint in the 12th century. It was introduced to England in the 16th century by the Hamilton family, through their French relations.

In the United States, Claude was initially used rarely, and usually by French-speaking immigrants and their descendents. However, the popular play The Lady of Lyons by British author Edward Bulwer-Lytton (set in France, first produced in 1838) featured a character named Claude Melnotte and was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

During the latter half of the 19th century, Claude was a fashionable name. Like all fashionable names, Claude experienced a drop-off in the early 20th century. In fact, Willa Cather (in 1922 in her Pulitzer prize-winning novel One of Ours) called it “a hayseed name trying to be fine.”

Claude is also a feminine name in France, akin to Claudia.
Please see Claudius for more information.

Pronunciation: clawd.


Famous Bearers:
Artists and Authors:
Claude Goudimel (1510-1572)
French composer.
Claude Le Jeune (1527-1600)
French composer.
Claude Perrault (1613-1688)
French architect.
Claude Gillot (1673-1722)
French painter.
Claude-Prosper Jolyot, Sieur de Crébillon (1707-1777)
French novelist.
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806)
French architect.
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
French painter.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
French composer.
Claude Ake (1890-1948)
Jamaican-American poet.
Claude Simon (1913-)
French writer. Winner of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Claude Mauriac (1914-1996)
French novelist.


Educators, Scholar, and Social Workers:
Claude Favre (1585-1650)
French grammarian.
Claude Pajon (1626-1685)
French theologian.
Claude Fleury (1640-1723)
French religious historian.
Claude Buffier (1661-1737)
French philosopher.
Claude-Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771)
French philosopher.
Claude-Carloman de Rulhière (1734-1791)
French historian.
Claude Fauriel (1772-1844)
French scholar.
Claude-Joseph Charnay (1828-1915)
French archeologist of Latin America.
Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore (1858-1938)
English theologian.
Claude-Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer (1898-1982)
French archeologist.
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-)
French social anthropologist.
Claude Bourdet (1909-1996)
French human rights activist.
Claude Ake (1939-1996)
Nigerian political scientist.

Fictional Characters:
Claude Frollo
The tortured archdeacon in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Claude Melnotte
A gardener’s son in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1838 play The Lady of Lyons.
Claude Wheeler
The sensitve farmer’s son in Willa Cather’s 1923 novel One of Ours.

Miscellaneous:
Claude Garamond (1499-1561)
French type designer.
Claude de Forbin (1656-1733)
French naval officer.
Claude François de Malet (1754-1812)
French general.
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836)
French author of La Marseillaise.
Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Bullune (1764-1841)
French general during the Revolution and Napoleon Wars.
Claude-Étienne Minié (1804-1879)
French army officer who designed the Minié ball.
Claude Grahame-White (1879-1959)
English aviator.

Political Figures:
Claude Pepper (1900-1989)
American politician.

Religious Figures:
Saint Claude (-699)
Abbot of Condate (now Saint-Claude) and Bishop of Besancon.
Claude-Jean Allouez (1622-1689)
Jesuit missionary to Canada.
Claude la Colombière (1641-1682)
French missionary to the Court of St. James in England.

Scientists:
Claude-Louis, Comte Berthollet (1748-1822)
French chemist.
Claude-François-Dorothée, Marquis de Jouffroy d’Abbans (1751-1832)
French engineer.
Claude Chappe (1763-1805)
French engineer.
Claude-Louis Mathieu (1783-1875)
French astronomer and mathematician.
Claude Bernard (1813-1878)
French physiologist. The founder of Experimental Physiology.
Claude Elwood Shannon (1916-)
American mathematician. Developed the theory called Information Theory.
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1933-)
French physicist. Co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Singers and Entertainers:
Claude Rains (1889-1967)
English actor. Star of Casablanca and Notorious.
Claude Autant-Lara (1903-)
French filmmaker.
Claude Chabrol (1930-)
French filmmaker.
Claude Lelouch (1937-)
French filmmaker.

Popularity:
Percentage from the 1990 U.S. Census:
0.068 % named Claude
0.004 % named Claud

Popularity of Claude:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1850: 756th most popular.
1875: 128th most popular.
1900-1910: 73rd most popular.
1910-1920: 88th most popular.
1920-1930: 106th most popular.
1930-1940: 137th most popular.
1940-1950: 165th most popular.
1950-1960: 230th most popular.
1960-1970: 318th most popular.
1970-1980: 467th most popular.
1980-1990: 624th most popular.
1990: 834th most popular.
1991: 891st most popular.
1992: 927th most popular.
1993: 912th most popular.
1994: N/A

In France...
1900: 59th most popular.
1910: 56th most popular.
1920: 40th most popular.
1930: 10th most popular.
1940: 3rd most popular.
1950: 10th most popular.
1960: 25th most popular.
1970: 58th most popular.
1980: 134th most popular.
1984: 183rd most popular.
1990-2000: N/A

Popularity of Claud:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1875: 152nd most popular.
1900-1910: 292nd most popular.
1910-1920: 369th most popular.
1920-1930: 396th most popular.
1930-1940: 510th most popular.
1940-1950: 758th most popular.
1950-2000: N/A

Copyright © 2001-2004 Edgar’s Name Pages




. The cultus of St. Claud became widespread in the twelfth century when his body was discovered to be incorrupt. His burial place was for centuries a favorite place of pilgrimage at which miraculous cures took place. His feast day is June 6th.

Sainte-Claude


Saint-Claude, in the Jura mountains,