The surname Clifton
A place surname, carried by 24,758 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˈklɪftən/ 2 syllables Soundex C413 Also a first name
Origin
*Literally meaning "town by a cliff." From Old English clif (“cliff”) + tūn (“town”). Analyzable as cliff + -ton. *In Oregon County, Missouri, from Cliff + -ton. From being named after a Cliff, or which may be clipped to Clif.
Clifton is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 24,758 people named Clifton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 12,471 Americans. That is up 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 24,523.
Who is named Clifton
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
81% of people named Clifton identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- White (not Hispanic) 81%
- Black (not Hispanic) 13%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
- Two or more races 2.2%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%
Famous Cliftons
6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Scott CliftonAmerican television actor, musician, Internet personality, born 1984
- Elmer CliftonAmerican film director (1890–1949)
- Lucille CliftonAmerican poet (1936-2010)
- Nathaniel CliftonAmerican basketball player-coach (1922-1990)
- Mark CliftonAmerican writer (1906–1963)
- Adrian CliftonAssociation football player, born 1988
Notable Cliftons come mostly from the United States (5) and Montserrat (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Variant spellings
- Cliffton
Clifton has the Soundex code C413, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C413.
Questions
- Where does the surname Clifton come from?
- *Literally meaning "town by a cliff." From Old English clif (“cliff”) + tūn (“town”). Analyzable as cliff + -ton. *In Oregon County, Missouri, from Cliff + -ton. From being named after a Cliff, or which may be clipped to Clif.
- How common is the surname Clifton?
- 24,758 people in the United States had the surname Clifton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,471 Americans. It ranked 1,439th of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Clifton?
- In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Clifton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Clifton?
- Scott Clifton, American television actor, musician, Internet personality, followed by Elmer Clifton.
- Where is the surname Clifton most common?
- Wikidata records people named Clifton in the United States and Montserrat.
- How do you pronounce Clifton?
- Clifton is /ˈklɪftən/, 2 syllables.
- What type of surname is Clifton?
- Clifton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
- Is the surname Clifton getting more or less common?
- More common. 24,523 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,758 in 2010, up 1.0%.
- What are other spellings of Clifton?
- Cliffton.
- Is Clifton also a first name?
- Yes. Clifton is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.