Explore the Family Name Claw

The meaning of Claw

1. Native American (Navajo): from an American English shortened and altered form of a Navajo personal name based on (or just composed of) tłʼah ‘to be left handed’ (see Clah). 2. English: topographic name from Middle English claue ‘claw’, also ‘fork in a river, tongue of land between two streams’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Claw in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Claw" saw a slight decrease in ranking from 2000 to 2010, moving from rank 41,522 to 41,959, indicating a -1.05% change. However, interestingly, the count of people with this surname increased within the same decade, with 494 people in 2000 and 518 people by 2010, showing a 4.86% increase. The proportion per 100,000 remained constant at 0.18.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#41,522	#41,959	-1.05%
Count	494	518	4.86%
Proportion per 100k	0.18	0.18	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Claw

On the ethnicity front, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals some key insights into the ethnic identities associated with the surname "Claw". The majority fall under the American Indian and Alaskan Native category, accounting for 93.32% in 2000 and slightly increasing to 93.63% in 2010. There was also an impressive rise in those identifying with two or more races, climbing from 1.01% to 2.70%, marking a significant 167.33% change. On the other hand, those identifying as White saw a drop of -32.56%, decreasing from 3.44% in 2000 to 2.32% in 2010. Meanwhile, no individuals with this surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or Hispanic during both census years, and the percentage of Black individuals dropped to zero in 2010 from 1.21% in 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
American Indian and Alaskan Native	93.32%	93.63%	0.33%
Two or More Races	1.01%	2.7%	167.33%
White	3.44%	2.32%	-32.56%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	1.21%	0%	0%