Clive

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Clive is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name16K records spelled Clive9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United Kingdom, United States, France, Spain

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Çlïvè, Clìve, Çlíve

• Russian given name543 records spelled Clive8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United Kingdom, United States, Russia, South Africa

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian

  Also written Клайв, Klaiv, Клаив

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Clive is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Variant of English cliff; used in Ireland from the English surname and Robert Clive’s fame.

  as a name·Irish first names

• Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from any of the various places (in e.g. Cheshire, Shropshire) so called from Old English clif ‘cliff’, ‘slope’. As a given name it seems to have been originally chosen in honour of ‘Clive of India’ (Robert Clive, created

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• A variant of the English word cliff. It originally appeared as an English placename, first recorded in 1327, then as a surname. The popularity of the English statesman and founder of the British Empire in India, Robert Clive (1725-74), led to its use as a first name in England. It has spread to Ireland where it is now occasionally used.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A topographic surname from Old English - someone who lived near a cliff (Old English clif).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, from the cliff

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 126 years between 1885–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• C. S. Lewisb. 1898GBnot in their usual nameBritish writer, lay theologian, and scholar (1898–1963)
• Clive Dunnb. 1920GBBritish actor (1920–2012)
• Clive Donnerb. 1926GBBritish film director (1926–2010)
• Clive Revillb. 1930NZNew Zealand actor (1930–2025)
• Clive Grangerb. 1934GBBritish economist
• Clive Swiftb. 1936GBBritish actor (1936–2019)
• Clive Merrisonb. 1945GBWelsh actor
• Clive Russellb. 1945GBScottish actor
• Clive Barkerb. 1952GBEnglish author, film director, and visual artist (born 1952)
• Clive Owenb. 1964GBEnglish actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 416 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Clive?

We estimate roughly 5.4 thousand people bear Clive (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Clive have the most bearers?

Clive is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled clive.

Where is Clive most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Clive is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 1.5 thousand people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is Clive compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Clive is the 367th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Clive a male or female name?

Clive is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Clive mean?

Recorded meaning: Person who lives by a slope, riverbank or cliff.