How Many People Are Named Cliff?
An estimated 6,401 people in the United States have the first name Cliff. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 55 years old, and Cliff peaked in popularity in 1959 with 310 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Cliff as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Cliff paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
6,401
About 1 in 53,547 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
55
years old
Peak Year
1959
310 births
Total Registered
9,265
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Cliff
Cliff is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 9,265 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Cliff as a male name
Ranked #2,995 in 2024
41 male births in 2024
Peak: 1959 (310 births)
Cliff: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Cliff span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1960s, when 1,976 babies were registered. Cliff has declined significantly from its peak in the 1960s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Cliff by Decade
How has Cliff tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Cliff by State
Birth registrations for Cliff span all 37 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in West Virginia, Idaho, Nebraska. On average, about 119 Cliffs were registered per state.
Cliff + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Cliff as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Cliff
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Cliff: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cliff?
We estimate approximately 6,401 people named Cliff are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 53,547 Americans share this first name.
Is Cliff a common name?
Cliff is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 9,265 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Cliff most popular?
Cliff reached peak popularity in 1959, when 310 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Cliff is approximately 55 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Cliff a male name?
Cliff is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Cliff Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Cliff Smith, Cliff Johnson, Cliff Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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