Klaus

For other uses, see Klaus (disambiguation).

Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas.

Notable persons with the family name

• Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American baseball player
• Chris Klaus (born 1973), American entrepreneur
• Felix Klaus (born 1992), German football player, son of Fred Klaus
• Frank Klaus (1887–1948), German-American boxer, 1913 Middleweight Champion
• Fred Klaus (born 1967), German football player and manager, father of Felix Klaus
• Josef Klaus (1910–2001), Chancellor of Austria 1966–1970
• Karl Ernst Claus (1796–1864), Russian chemist
• Václav Klaus (born 1941), Czech politician, former President of the Czech Republic
• Walter K. Klaus (1912–2012), American politician and farmer

Notable persons with the given name

• Brother Klaus, Swiss patron saint
• Klaus Augenthaler (born 1957), German football player and manager
• Klaus Badelt (born 1967), German composer
• Klaus Barbie (1913–1991), German SS-Hauptsturmführer and Holocaust Perpetrator
• Klaus Bargsten (1911–2000), German captain and sole survivor of the sunken U-boat U-521 in World War II
• Klaus Berntsen (1844–1927), Danish politician
• Klaus Dede (1935–2018), German writer
• Klaus Dibiasi (born 1947), Italian sports diver
• Klaus Doldinger (1936–2025), German saxophonist and film music composer
• Klaus Emmerich (director) (1943–2026), German film director and screenwriter
• Klaus Emmerich (journalist) (1928–2021), Austrian journalist
• Klaus Fischer (born 1949), German footballer
• Klaus Flouride (born 1949), bassist of the Dead Kennedys
• Klaus Fuchs (1911–1988), German theoretical physicist and atomic spy
• Klaus Gerhart (born 1965), outdoorsman and photographer
• Klaus Iohannis (born 1959), Romanian politician
• Klaus Isekenmeier (born 1975), German decathlete
• Klaus Kinkel (1936–2019), German politician
• Klaus Kinski (1926–1991), German actor
• Klaus Lemke (1940–2022), German film director
• Klaus Köchl (born 1961), Austrian politician
• Klaus Lage (born 1950), German musician
• Klaus Lanzarini (born 1977), Italian freestyle swimmer
• Klaus Laser (1942–2020), German actor
• Klaus Löwitsch (1936–2002), German actor
• Klaus Mäkelä, (born 1996) Finnish conductor and cellist
• Klaus Meine (born 1948), lead singer of German hard rock band Scorpions
• Klaus Mertens (born 1949), German singer
• Klaus Nomi (1944–1983), German entertainer
• Klaus Ofczarek (1939–2020), Austrian opera singer and actor
• Klaus Perwas (born 1971), German basketball coach and former player
• Klaus Petersen (born 1951), Danish modern pentathlete
• Klaus Rinke (1939–2026), German artist
• Klaus Rogge (born 1979), German rower
• Klaus Schilling (1871–1946), German experimenter in Nazi human concentration camp experiments executed for war crimes
• Klaus Schulten (1947–2016), computational biophysicist
• Klaus Schulze (1947–2022), German electronic music composer and musician
• Klaus Schwab (born 1938), German professor who founded the World Economic Forum
• Klaus Seltenheim (born 1984), German politician
• Klaus Tennstedt (1926–1998), German conductor
• Klaus Voormann (born 1938), artist, musician, and record producer who was associated with the early days of The Beatles
• Klaus Voussem (born 1970), German politician
• Klaus Wowereit (born 1953), German politician

Pen name

• Klaus Maria Brandauer (born 1943), theatrical name of Klaus Georg Steng, Austrian actor

Characters

• Klaus from Beyblade: Metal Masters
• Klaus from Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2
• Klaus from Mother 3
• Klaus Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Klaus Daimler from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• Klaus Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy
• Klaus Heisler from American Dad!
• Klaus Mikaelson from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals
• Klaus von Wolfstadt from Maiden Rose
• Baron Klaus Wulfenbach from Girl Genius
• Klaus from Klaus
• Klaus from Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach from From Eroica with Love
• Klaus, the titular character from Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job
• Klaus from Don't Starve

See also

• Claus, a variant of the name
• Klaukkala, Finnish village, whose name is partly based on the name Klaus
• Klavs, a variant of the name
• Kloyz, a Yiddish school
• Klaus, a 2019 animated film