Meaning & Origin
An English habitational surname from Old English for someone who lived in one of the places in England.
Clifton is a boy's and girl's baby name of Old English origin, transferred from the habitational surname meaning 'settlement by the cliff' — from the Old English words clif (cliff) and tun (settlement, estate).
Clifton reached its peak popularity in the 1920s through 1940s, part of a wave of surname-to-first-name transfers that gave American boys names with a sense of geographic solidity. The nickname Cliff gives it an easy, relaxed alter ego. Clifton Davis, the Broadway actor and singer, and Clifton Webb, the Hollywood film star, kept the name in the cultural spotlight for decades.