# Clifford (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/clifford/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “cliff”, “ford” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈklɪfəɹd/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Cliff, Clif |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 190,268 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 188,249 / 2,019 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 167, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English clif (“cliff”) + ford (“ford”), a dweller at the ford by the steep bank.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 8 | 6,610 |
| 1976 | 6 | 8,353 |
| 1977 | 7 | 7,701 |
| 1978 | 10 | 6,035 |
| 1979 | 8 | 7,443 |
| 1980 | 14 | 5,028 |
| 1981 | 14 | 5,020 |
| 1982 | 9 | 6,997 |
| 1983 | 12 | 5,519 |
| 1984 | 12 | 5,605 |
| 1985 | 9 | 7,065 |
| 1986 | 9 | 7,238 |
| 1987 | 9 | 7,497 |
| 1988 | 6 | 10,641 |
| 1991 | 7 | 10,501 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 135 | 1,271 |
| 2012 | 138 | 1,275 |
| 2013 | 138 | 1,263 |
| 2014 | 119 | 1,415 |
| 2015 | 147 | 1,240 |
| 2016 | 138 | 1,310 |
| 2017 | 160 | 1,172 |
| 2018 | 144 | 1,276 |
| 2019 | 153 | 1,235 |
| 2020 | 133 | 1,344 |
| 2021 | 150 | 1,269 |
| 2022 | 152 | 1,270 |
| 2023 | 125 | 1,451 |
| 2024 | 143 | 1,342 |
| 2025 | 139 | 1,352 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 6 | 2,775 |
| 2010 | 4 | 3,865 |
| 2011 | 3 | 4,647 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2015 | 4 | 3,908 |
| 2016 | 8 | 2,556 |
| 2017 | 8 | 2,512 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3,013 |
| 2020 | 4 | 3,848 |
| 2021 | 3 | 4,789 |
| 2022 | 3 | 4,789 |
| 2023 | 5 | 3,523 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,270 |
| 2025 | 5 | 3,684 |

## People named Clifford

- Clifford Shull, American physicist (1915–2001)
- Clifford D. Simak, American writer, journalist (1904–1988)
- Natalie Clifford Barney, American writer who hosted a literary salon at her home in Paris (1876-1972)
- Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist
- Clifford Brown, American jazz musician (1930–1956)
- Clifford Odets, American playwright, screenwriter, and actor (1906–1963)
- Clifford Husbands, Barbadian judge (1926-2017)
- Clifford Edmund Bosworth, British historian and orientalist (1928–2015)
- Clifford Jordan, American jazz saxophone player (1931–1993)
- Clifford Hugh Douglas, British engineer and economic theorist (1879–1952)
- Clifford Robinson, American basketball player (1966–2020)
- Clifford Gray, American bobsledder and actor (1892–1969)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.