# Clifford (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/clifford/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 22,245 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,618 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 13,879 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.2% (21,974 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈklɪfəɹd/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

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

## Who carries it

Share of people named Clifford in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 89% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.8% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Clifford in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Australia.

## People named Clifford

- Clark Clifford, American secretary of defense (1906-1998)
- Doug Clifford, American musician
- Ruth Clifford, American actress (1900–1998)
- Michael R. Clifford, American army officer and astronaut (1952–2021)
- Nathan Clifford, American politician (1803-1881)
- Steve Clifford, American basketball coach
- Linda Clifford, American singer
- William Clifford, actor and screenwriter (1877-1941)
- Hugh Clifford, British colonial administrator (1866-1941)
- Camille Clifford, Belgian-born stage actress and model (1885-1971)
- Kathleen Clifford, American actress (1887-1962)
- James Clifford, American historian

and 1 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Colbert, Calvert, Culver, Culbertson, Colburn, Calabrese, Claiborne, Clapper, Cleaver, Culberson, Clyburn, Calabro.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.