Clifton
From an Old English place name meaning "cliff settlement or town".
Name Census estimates that about 39,640 living Americans carry the first name Clifton. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Clifton today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clifton births was 1975 (1,224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clifton. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Clifton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Clifton is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 436 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
40K
~ 1 in 8,647 Americans
Peak year
1975
1,224 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,746
Tracked since 1880
Census
Clifton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 33,442 people with the first name Clifton, which placed it at #1,175 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,175
National first-name rank
People counted
33K
33,442 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clifton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clifton is White at 55.2%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Clifton described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Clifton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.2% · 18,458
- Black or African American37.3% · 12,482
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,194
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 607
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 366
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 335
Gender
Gender distribution for Clifton
Out of the 70,600 babies given the name Clifton since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Clifton as a male name
- Ranked #1,746 in 2024
- 94 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (1,214 births)
Clifton as a female name
- Ranked #8,544 in 1988
- 8 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1970 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clifton appears almost entirely male. Of the 33,448 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Clifton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clifton from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 9,900 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clifton by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Clifton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cliftons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Clifton, while Montana, Rhode Island, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,287 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clifton
The name Clifton has its origins in Old English, derived from the elements "clif" meaning cliff or slope, and "tun" meaning an enclosed settlement or town. It emerged as a place name during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, referring to settlements established near cliffs or hilly terrain.
The earliest recorded use of Clifton as a personal name dates back to the late 12th century, when it began to appear in various records and historical documents. It was initially prevalent in regions of England where settlements bearing the name Clifton existed, such as Clifton in Bedfordshire, Clifton in Derbyshire, and Clifton in Bristol.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Clifton was Sir Gervase Clifton (c. 1330 - 1391), an English knight and landowner from Nottinghamshire. Another early figure was Sir John Clifton (c. 1450 - 1512), who served as the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire during the reign of Henry VII.
In the realm of literature, the name Clifton appears in the works of Shakespeare. In the play "Henry VI, Part 2," there is a character named Sir John Clifton, who is a supporter of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses.
During the 17th century, one of the most prominent individuals named Clifton was Sir Gervase Clifton (1588 - 1666), an English politician and baronet who served as the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. He was a staunch Royalist during the English Civil War.
Another notable figure was William Clifton (1663 - 1737), an English philosopher and mathematician who made contributions to the development of calculus and is known for his work on the binomial theorem.
Throughout history, the name Clifton has been borne by various individuals from different walks of life, including politicians, soldiers, scholars, and artists. Its enduring presence across centuries reflects its deep-rooted origins in the landscape and settlements of medieval England.
People
Clifton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clifton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Clifton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clifton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,640 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clifton going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 8,647 US residents.
Is Clifton a common name?
We classify Clifton as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 70,600 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clifton most popular?
The single biggest year for Clifton was 1975, when 1,224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clifton is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clifton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 33,442 people with the name Clifton, or 11.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,175 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Clifton in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Clifton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clifton appears almost entirely male. Of the 33,448 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Clifton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clifton is White at 55.2%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Clifton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clifton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.2% (18,458 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Clifton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clifton a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Clifton in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Clifton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clifton in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Clifton can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Clifton?
Want to know how many Americans are named Clifton? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.