English place name from Old English 'clif' (cliff) + 'tun' (settlement), meaning 'town by a cliff.'
Clifton is an English place-name turned surname turned given name, rooted in the Old English words clif (cliff) and tun (settlement or estate), meaning roughly 'the farm on the cliff.' Dozens of English villages carry the name, and it entered the personal name tradition — as many British surnames did — through the aristocratic habit of bestowing a mother's maiden name on a son. By the nineteenth century it was crossing the Atlantic with emigrants who prized its solid, geographical respectability.
In America, Clifton became particularly associated with mid-century dignity. Clifton Webb, the urbane Hollywood actor known for his razor-sharp wit in Laura and Sitting Pretty, gave the name a sophisticated screen presence. Clifton Chenier, the Louisiana accordion master who pioneered Creole zydeco music, lent it a deep Southern American warmth and cultural richness.
In jazz circles, the name resonated through Clifford Brown's era, though 'Clifton' as a full form kept a slightly more formal bearing than its shortened cousin Cliff. The name fell from fashion somewhat in the latter decades of the twentieth century, when it began to feel overly anchored to a specific generation. Today it is poised for the same quiet reclamation happening to many patrician American names — substantial without being stuffy, and carrying genuine American history in its syllables.