Clif
Clif was last recorded in 1981, when 5 babies were given it; 199 Americans have been recorded with it between 1945 and 1981 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Clif by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Clif mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Clif is “a diminutive of the male given name Clifford.”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Clifton.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Clif?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #6,453, in 1981; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
19 babies in 1959, the peak
Clif peaked in 1959, when 19 boys were given it, #1,872 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 5 | #6,453 | 2.8 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,027 | 3.9 |
| 1977 | 7 | #4,679 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,023 | 3.4 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,622 | 3.4 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,593 | 3.4 |
| 1965 | 9 | #2,823 | 4.8 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,564 | 5.5 |
| 1963 | 14 | #2,219 | 6.9 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,147 | 2.4 |
Every recorded year (22)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 12 | #2,435 | 5.6 |
| 1960 | 9 | #2,906 | 4.2 |
| 1959 | 19 | #1,872 | 8.9 |
| 1958 | 13 | #2,282 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 11 | #2,511 | 5.1 |
| 1956 | 11 | #2,520 | 5.2 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,605 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,778 | 4.4 |
| 1953 | 11 | #2,418 | 5.6 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,427 | 3.1 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,374 | 3.4 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,047 | 4.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Clif a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Clif has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 22 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Clif: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Clif, and how old are they?
An estimated 147 Americans named Clif and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 61 and 69. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 379 people named Clif (0 women and girls, 379 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 161 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.4 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Clif rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 9,506 babies since 1880, Clif is the second most given (2.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 43 babies recorded by SSA was a Clif (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Clif
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1940-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Tab | 1,110 |
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Clif and names like it
- Compare Clif and CliffBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sClif peaked in 1959.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Clif.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Clif alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.