Clifford
Where Clifford comes from
From Old English clif (“cliff”) + ford (“ford”), a dweller at the ford by the steep bank.
- 2 syllables
Along the way
- 1880First SSA yearAlready #107 among boys — 127 babies in the first year on record.
- 1904Clifford D. Simak bornAmerican writer, journalist
- 1909Peak, #57536 babies named Clifford — more than any year before or since.
- 1915Clifford Shull bornAmerican physicist
- 1998The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #654.
In the dictionary
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
- Clifford Shull · American physicist, 1915–2001
- Clifford D. Simak · American writer, journalist, 1904–1988
- Clifford Geertz · American anthropologist, 1926–2006
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.