Clifton

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Clifton was given to 82 boys in 2025, #1,907 among boys’ names; 70,685 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 36,400 Americans named Clifton and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (52% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 42 and 69.

Babies named Clifton each year, first recorded in 1880

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Clifton or Cliffton Names of the 1970s Names in Texas

Births of Clifton by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Clifton mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Clifton is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the sense “town by a cliff.” (meaning).

*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.

/ˈklɪftən/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Clifton (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Clifton?

#1,907 among boys’ names, 2025

Clifton fell from #1,476 in 2015 to #1,907 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 59.0 to 48.0 per million.

1,224 babies in 1975, the peak

Clifton peaked in 1975, when 1,224 babies were given it (1,214 boys, #186 among boys’ names). The 82 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.

Clifton by year
Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2025	82	#1,907	0.05
2024	95	#1,738	0.06
2023	105	#1,641	0.06
2022	78	#1,968	0.04
2021	91	#1,765	0.05
2020	112	#1,506	0.06
2019	103	#1,607	0.06
2018	102	#1,608	0.06
2017	110	#1,513	0.06
2016	90	#1,726	0.05

Every recorded year (146)

Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2015	113	#1,476	0.06
2014	119	#1,416	0.06
2013	110	#1,484	0.06
2012	130	#1,317	0.07
2011	112	#1,461	0.06
2010	107	#1,519	0.06
2009	132	#1,316	0.07
2008	131	#1,325	0.06
2007	154	#1,154	0.07
2006	146	#1,154	0.07
2005	156	#1,062	0.08
2004	159	#1,028	0.08
2003	173	#946	0.09
2002	163	#969	0.08
2001	201	#818	0.10
2000	232	#738	0.12
1999	215	#745	0.11
1998	240	#696	0.13
1997	221	#714	0.12
1996	232	#694	0.12
1995	249	#663	0.13
1994	267	#634	0.14
1993	311	#584	0.16
1992	355	#537	0.18
1991	411	#490	0.20
1990	440	#472	0.21
1989	506	#413	0.25
1988	518	#382	0.27
1987	552	#351	0.30
1986	609	#326	0.33
1985	643	#317	0.35
1984	644	#304	0.36
1983	609	#317	0.34
1982	718	#285	0.40
1981	788	#272	0.44
1980	804	#269	0.45
1979	782	#266	0.45
1978	863	#242	0.53
1977	828	#247	0.50
1976	871	#233	0.56
1975	1,214	#186	0.78
1974	753	#257	0.48
1973	556	#316	0.36
1972	623	#297	0.38
1971	643	#304	0.36
1970	672	#301	0.36
1969	665	#293	0.37
1968	684	#281	0.39
1967	664	#281	0.38
1966	696	#277	0.39
1965	684	#287	0.37
1964	836	#265	0.42
1963	792	#273	0.39
1962	855	#262	0.41
1961	868	#270	0.41
1960	873	#270	0.41
1959	926	#262	0.43
1958	999	#250	0.47
1957	1,058	#235	0.49
1956	997	#232	0.47
1955	982	#227	0.48
1954	1,038	#215	0.51
1953	960	#218	0.49
1952	942	#214	0.48
1951	955	#209	0.51
1950	1,024	#201	0.57
1949	982	#204	0.55
1948	944	#205	0.54
1947	965	#204	0.53
1946	802	#214	0.49
1945	722	#199	0.54
1944	765	#195	0.56
1943	857	#187	0.60
1942	793	#198	0.57
1941	675	#203	0.55
1940	643	#202	0.55
1939	662	#194	0.60
1938	648	#197	0.58
1937	669	#193	0.63
1936	640	#193	0.62
1935	648	#196	0.62
1934	666	#189	0.64
1933	733	#177	0.74
1932	739	#183	0.71
1931	697	#188	0.67
1930	755	#184	0.69
1929	781	#178	0.73
1928	781	#183	0.71
1927	919	#164	0.82
1926	884	#165	0.80
1925	891	#171	0.80
1924	847	#172	0.75
1923	900	#166	0.82
1922	887	#168	0.82
1921	932	#160	0.85
1920	910	#157	0.85
1919	884	#150	0.90
1918	934	#152	0.92
1917	794	#159	0.86
1916	770	#156	0.87
1915	820	#144	1.0
1914	616	#150	0.94
1913	497	#149	1.0
1912	404	#148	0.94
1911	206	#163	0.91
1910	178	#168	0.92
1909	157	#159	1.0
1908	143	#162	0.93
1907	126	#172	0.86
1906	105	#174	0.79
1905	121	#165	0.91
1904	115	#164	0.90
1903	110	#159	0.92
1902	112	#156	0.91
1901	101	#154	0.95
1900	107	#190	0.71
1899	94	#161	0.89
1898	83	#186	0.68
1897	78	#194	0.69
1896	95	#168	0.79
1895	92	#169	0.78
1894	93	#166	0.80
1893	75	#194	0.67
1892	68	#213	0.56
1891	80	#161	0.79
1890	57	#219	0.51
1889	59	#217	0.53
1888	64	#219	0.53
1887	43	#244	0.42
1886	42	#262	0.38
1885	54	#221	0.50
1884	40	#270	0.35
1883	26	#324	0.25
1882	51	#232	0.45
1881	39	#253	0.39
1880	38	#273	0.34

Download Clifton’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Clifton a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Clifton has been given almost only to boys: 436 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Clifton: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Clifton, and how old are they?

36,400 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 52% of the 70,685 Americans ever recorded as Clifton. The median Clifton alive today is 55 years old; half are between 42 and 69.

The 2020 Census counted 33,448 people named Clifton (89 women and girls, 33,359 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 40,209 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.

Alive today, by age

100-10915

90-99469

80-892,420

70-795,900

60-696,560

50-59 (median)6,480

40-496,770

30-393,670

20-291,870

10-191,190

0-9872

Alive today, by generation

By generation
Generation	Born	Alive
Silent Generation	1928-1945	2,530
Baby Boomers	1946-1964	11,800
Generation X	1965-1980	10,700
Millennials	1981-1996	7,460
Generation Z	1997-2012	2,620
Generation Alpha	2013-2025	1,300

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

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).

Where are babies named Clifton born?

The states with the most babies named Clifton are Texas, North Carolina and Louisiana, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
State	Since 1910	Rank, boys	vs. national
Texas	7,037	not ranked	1.6×
North Carolina	5,775	#880	2.8×
Louisiana	3,944	#800	2.8×
Mississippi	3,928	not ranked	3.5×
Virginia	3,725	#814	2.3×
California	2,624	#2,540	0.5×
Alabama	2,414	not ranked	1.6×
New York	2,382	not ranked	0.4×
South Carolina	2,239	not ranked	1.9×
Tennessee	2,181	not ranked	1.4×

Where Clifton is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Clifton is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 3.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Mississippi3.49×

Louisiana2.83×

North Carolina2.81×

Virginia2.34×

Arkansas2.30×

District of Columbia1.99×

South Carolina1.90×

Maryland1.83×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Clifton with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 72,557 babies since 1880, Clifton is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 82 of their 88 babies (93%), again the most given.

Clifton and the names spelled alike
Name	Since 1880	Births 2025	Peak year
Clifton	70,685	82	1975
Cliffton	1,872	6	1982

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 Clifton

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

Name	Recorded	1880-2025
Roby	2,599
Maurice	138,943
Clifford	190,268
Carl	508,017
Laurence	40,215
Carleton	4,839

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 Clifton and names like it

Compare Clifton and ClifftonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
The most given names of the 1970sClifton peaked in 1975.
Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Clifton since 1910.
From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Clifton: every such name, by how often it is given.
The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Clifton.
The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Clifton alive today were born 1946-1964.
Names starting with CMost given first.

Compare Clifton with another name