Clarence

My husband loves this name. He isn't usually into vintage names, but he finds this one so charming. I don't like it quite as much as he does... it doesn't have a whole lot of nicknames, and it sounds feminine to some people due to the "Claire" association. However, it reminds us of "It's a Wonderful Life" which is a fantastic movie. Clarence was a super popular name back 100 years ago, so it fits the vintage name trend even if it isn't trending itself at the moment. "Ren" is a decent nickname (It's the name of Kevin Bacon's character in Footloose), and "Clancy" is another option-- there's a hamburger chain in our state called "Clancy's" so it's not unheard of.

This name always reminds me of Clarence from These Happy Golden Years. And vaguely of birds and toothpaste. I think it's a nice name.

I think this is a wonderful, soft, but elegant and charismatic name—Ren and Clare are great nicknames for it :)

I hate this name so much I can’t stand it. It’s ugly, tacky, and an old man name. Ughhhhhhh.

Agh this name is so sweet and vintage! Another old man name I’m in love with. I mean, we all love Clara, so what’s so bad about Clarence? And “It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of the best movies in existence, so that’s a great association.

Clarence was my grandfather's first name (1936-2005). When I took a male name as a trans man, I decided on this one. I believe he would have supported me and have been proud for me carry his name. I am also carrying on an important tradition in transgender names: sci-fi hacker names for transfems and melancholy-afflicted Victorian ghost names for transmascs.

This is really close to clearance, which is not a bad thing. The root name Claire means clear.

My birth name was Clarence. My mom named me after her brother. Sadly my mom was physically, and emotionally abusive and I was taken by the courts and placed in foster care at the age of 6. At an early age I suffered from a lazy eye, so I was nicknamed “Clarence-the-cross-eyed-Lion” after a tv show called “Daktari” in which a cross-eyed lion is the main character, building odd the lion research people in the 1960’s in Africa. My own siblings didn’t know how to spell my name, and most Clarence’s I know—other than my uncle—are black. I’m not. Likewise, in Canada—French-Canada, Clarence is also female, so I’m constantly ridiculed with the pharmacists and others calling for “made Clarence” or “madame Plourde, which is my family name. I tell people to call me what they have called me since 1976, which is CJ, but French Canadians abhor nicknames, they can’t stand it. Then there are the French Canadian friends who insist on calling me Clarence even though they know I abhor it…another symptom of French-Canadian ignorance. If I could I would have changed my name decades ago. I now tell people that Clarence is my dead name, like names no longer used by trans men and women. Sadly, most don’t seem to understand that either.

I might be in the minority here, but I think this name is really charming, sophisticated and nice. I know it's a male name but I still think it might suit a girl, too.

Absolutely Lovely!

This name doesn't hit the spot.

This should be a unisex name, like Florence.

Homey but good-natured.

It sounds feminine and has an ugly sound.

I don't like this. Ugh, what a horrible name.

Blegh!

Gross, and it is an old man sounding name.

For a long time I thought of this name as a girl's name, mainly because whenever I came across the name it was never attached to any fictional character or person I knew of. Not until that cartoon Clarence came out. It still feels feminine to me.

My name is Claire, and I hate this name because an annoying boy at school asked me if my real name was Clarence! I mean really!

This is my dad's name! So if I ever have a boy there's a great chance this would be his middle name. I think it has a kind of feminine aura to it for a boy's name (because of the similarity to Claire probably) and I like that!

If it wasn't too close to Clearance, like the sale, then I would think about it as a name for if I ever have a son.

Too close to clearance.

I adore this name! I know it's old, but I love it and its meaning.

I really love this name! To me it sounds like an adorable name. I made a character with this name too. I recommend this name, it's really good. It doesn't sound very 'geeky' to me. I don't know why everyone says that..

The name Clarence was given to 190 baby boys born in the US in 2012.0.

Very old-fashioned, elitist, snobby, and rather geeky-sounding on a kid today. Resembles so-called virtue names, and thus has a bit of a feminine feel to it, even though I'd hate this on females.