About the Ratcliff Surname

The name Ratcliff is closely linked to Ratliff. The family name meaning is “Red cliff”, the same as for Ratliff.

A variant of Ratliff

Records show Ratcliff as one of the forms Ratliff took over time. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them.

In the records

The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists Ratcliff with 10,497 bearers, at rank 3,409. Ratcliff sounds close to Ratcliffe and Radcliffe, so it can help to search both.

Family crest and blazon

Arms linked to Ratliff and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to.

Get the complete Ratcliff report, with a museum-style coat of arms.