Clifton

If you know anything about how words become other words, and if you think about it for a moment, you'll know pretty much where Clifton came from, and what it means. But if you don't want to do all that thinking, here you go: Clifton is from clif, which means exactly what you think it does--a cliff or a slope, and ton, which is basically "town." So, Clifton means a town by a cliff, or on a cliff, or somehow or another associated with a cliff. Clifton is a surname that became a first name. Ask Oxford suggest that it might have been chosen for use as a way to expand the name Cliff without using Clifford. That makes sense, but the only Clifton I know is nearly always called Clifton, and only very rarely is he called Cliff. This name is one that's neither a very good choice for a baby nor a very bad choice. If you really like it, use it. If you don't, don't. The popularity for the name has fallen steadily since the early 1900's, and its well on its way to becoming extremely rare, but due to its status as a surname, it most likely will not disappear entirely.