MEANING & HISTORY
What does Cliff mean?
Cliff is a familiar form of names such as Clifford and Clifton. Both have English landscape origins involving a cliff or steep bank, with different second elements.
The short name can also evoke the ordinary landscape word directly. Cliff does not identify which longer form a family intended, and it may be the complete registered name.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
The given name is from shortenings of the diminutives. The surname is from the noun cliff.
A diminutive of the male given name Clifford or Clifton.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Cliff
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Cliff Hodge
Filipino-American basketball player
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Wikidata
1
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Cliff Hodge
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Cliff in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Cliff
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Clint·Short form of Clinton, or a place-name form
- Clive·Cliff; surname-derived name
- Claire♀Bright, clear or shining
- Clara♀Clear, bright, or famous
- Clare♂♀Medieval English form of Clara: clear or bright
- Clark·Clerk, scholar or clergyman; surname-derived name
- Claro♂Bright or clear
- Clem♂Short form of Clement or Clemence
What rhymes with Cliff?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Cliff further
Follow the sources
- Wikidata given-name item Q16275216 — Cliff (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Cliff Hodge (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16275216 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Cliff (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Cliff (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Wiktionary: Clifford (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted underlying source-name etymology supporting the stated formation or root.
- Wiktionary: Clifford (English) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted underlying source-name etymology supporting the stated formation or root.