Clifton - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 2 syll. clif-ton, cl-ift-on ] The boy name Clifton is pronounced as KLIHFTahN ^KEY. Clifton is largely used in the English language and it is derived from Old English origins. Clifton has the meaning town by a cliff. From the elements 'clif' meaning cliff, riverbank, slope ; 'tun' meaning town, settlement, homestead. The first name is derived from the surname, which is in turn from a nickname given to one who lived near a town on a cliff, or in a place so named in Old English. The name is more recent than Clifford, and it could also have originated as an elaborated form of Cliff.

Cliffie (English pet form) and Cliff (English short form) are variants of Clifton.

Clifton is an unusual baby name for boys. Its usage peaked in 1915 with 0.093% of baby boys being given the name Clifton. Its ranking then was #144. The baby name has since steeply fallen in popularity, and is now of very modest use. Among all boy names in its group, Clifton was nonetheless the most widely used in 2007.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Clifton: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; F as in "fee (F.IY)" ; T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

A famous person named Clifton is Author, Clifton Fadiman, born 15 May 1902 - 20 June 1999, Brooklyn, New York.

Popularity Trend
for Clifton
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Clifton
in 2007