Cliffe Surname Meaning & Coat of Arms

Cliffe is best understood together with Cliff: both are English spellings of one family name. Its meaning, shared with Cliff, is “A dweller near a steep descent or slope”. The extra “e” in Cliffe is a spelling habit rather than a different name. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. The same family of names includes Clive and Kliff.

Cliffe ranked 51,066 in the 2010 US Census, with 408 people answering to the name.

Arms linked to Cliff and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Get the complete Cliffe report, with a museum-style coat of arms.