Cleto

Boys' name

Short form of Anacleto

Cleto has been given to 180 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1928, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Cleto, 2004

1 in 764,000

Cleto over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cleto: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Anacleto

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cleto means

Cleto is a short form of Anacleto.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Cleto is used in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈklɛ.to/ and /ˈkle.to/ for Cleto.

Origin, language, and formation

Cleto is used in Italian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Anacleto.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 180 boys were recorded with the name Cleto between 1915 and 2004. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1928; its best national rank was #2,239 in 1933.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Cleto?

Cleto had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2004, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2004: 1 in 764,000; 5 of 3,820,181 births
Among boys only: 1 in 397,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2004: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 529,591 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Cleto sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2004 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 529,591 children born in 2004 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cleto. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cletos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cleto was born before 1935 — so the typical Cleto is around 90 today.

Median birth year: 1935; About 90 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 26.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 10.0%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 60; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 26.1% of all recorded uses (47).

Is Cleto rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1928 (11)
Years since peak: 97; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 28.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,239; 1933

Spellings of Cleto

Cleto is not the most common spelling — Leo is, with 84.5% against Cleto's 0.06%.

Leo84.5%259,988
Cleo3.7%11,527
Cletus2.4%7,437
Chet2.0%6,180
Cleve1.5%4,506
Clem1.4%4,275
Cleon0.97%3,000
Coleton0.97%2,992

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cleto is used

Across 1910–2025, Cleto was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 401,923 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cleto has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cleto by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,239; 1933
Peak year: 1928; 11 that year
First recorded: 1915
Last recorded: 2004
All-time count: 180
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Cleto

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Clever Clent Clete Leto Clevon Clee Beto Cleave Cleon Cleofas Clester Cleatis Cledith Cleston Cleaven Cledis Cleavon Cleland Cleburn Clell Cleven Cleotis Veto Clebert

Sibling names for Cleto

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Edward Paul Ardis Germaine Darline Marvel Richard Leatrice

For a brother

Frances Jules Bud Rolland Normand Laverne Jewel Napoleon

Explore around Cleto

Top names of 1928, Cleto's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1933 Boys' names starting with C Short Italian Boy Names