Meaning & Origin
A topographic surname from Old English - someone who lived near a cliff (Old English clif).
Clive is a boy's baby name of Old English origin, from the Old English clif, meaning 'cliff, slope.' It began as a surname — most famously Robert Clive, 'Clive of India,' who helped establish British rule in the subcontinent. The novelist C.S. Lewis's first name was Clive Staples.
With over 3,200 U.S. births, Clive has a certain distinguished British restraint — the kind of name that sounds quietly confident without ever needing to announce itself, carrying both colonial history and Narnia-era literary warmth.