Radcliffe
From the English place name meaning "red cliff".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Radcliffe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Radcliffe today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Radcliffe births was 1920 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Radcliffe. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Radcliffe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1920
6 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1990 SSA rank
#9,165
Tracked since 1920
Census
Radcliffe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303 people with the first name Radcliffe, which placed it at #29,290 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
#29,290
National first-name rank
People counted
303
303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Radcliffe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radcliffe is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.9% · 233
- White15.5% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 12
- Two or more races2.0% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Radcliffe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Radcliffe from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Radcliffe
The given name Radcliffe has its origins in Old English, originating from a combination of two words - "rad" meaning "red" and "clif" meaning "cliff" or "slope". This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a red cliff or reddish slope.
The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the late 11th century, shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It appeared in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, where it was recorded as a surname denoting someone's place of residence.
As a given name, Radcliffe gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly among the English nobility and gentry. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Radcliffe Delves (1397-1441), a knight and landowner from Cheshire, England. He fought in the Hundred Years' War against France and was appointed a member of the King's Council.
In the 16th century, Radcliffe was the name of a prominent English family that held significant influence and power. Sir Nicholas Radcliffe (1510-1585) was a courtier and military commander during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, while his son Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex (1526-1583), served as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
The name continued to be used throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, with several notable individuals bearing it. Radcliffe Woodhouse (1628-1701) was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament, while Radcliffe Sidebottom (1701-1760) was a renowned clockmaker and inventor from Manchester.
In more recent history, one of the most famous bearers of the name Radcliffe is Daniel Radcliffe, the British actor best known for his portrayal of Harry Potter in the hugely popular film series based on the books by J.K. Rowling. He was born in 1989 and has since gone on to star in numerous other movies and stage productions.
Other notable individuals named Radcliffe include Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), an English author and pioneer of the Gothic novel genre, and Radcliffe Bailey (born 1968), an African American contemporary artist known for his mixed-media works exploring themes of ancestry and identity.
People
Radcliffe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Radcliffe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Radcliffe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Radcliffe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Radcliffe 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Radcliffe a common name?
We classify Radcliffe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Radcliffe most popular?
The single biggest year for Radcliffe was 1920, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Radcliffe is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Radcliffe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303 people with the name Radcliffe, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,290 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 Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Radcliffe appears almost entirely male. Of the 300 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Radcliffe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radcliffe is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Radcliffe most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Radcliffe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (233 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 Radcliffe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Radcliffe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe 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 Radcliffe?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.