Clif vs Cliff
American parents have registered 9,307 Cliffs since 1880, against 199 Clifs. Cliff is still ahead, with 43 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Clif Cliff
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Cliff has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1953, when Clif had 11 and Cliff had 92.
Side by side
| Clif | Cliff | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 199 | 9,307 |
| Most in one year | 19 | 310 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 43 |
| Estimated living today | 150 | 6,100 |
| Median age today | 65 | 57 |
| Peak year | 1959 | 1959 |
| Best rank | 1,865th boys | 455th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 2,884th |
| First recorded | 1945 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 199 | 0 / 9,307 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Clifs alive today are over 65; half the Cliffs are over 57. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Clif and Cliff.