Clive

Where Clive comes from

The dictionaries list Clive as a given name — a male given name transferred from the surname, popular in Britain in the mid-twentieth century — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 1 syllable
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1885
    First appearance
    #936 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1906
    Peak, #752
    11 babies named Clive — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1907
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  4. 1920
    Clive Dunn born
    British actor
  5. 1964
    Clive Owen born
    English actor
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, popular in Britain in the mid-twentieth century.
Namesakes
  • Clive Owen · English actor, born 1964
  • Clive Dunn · British actor, 1920–2012
  • Clive Granger · British economist, 1934–2009
  • Clive Barker · English author, film director, and visual artist, born 1952
  • Clive Sinclair · English entrepreneur and inventor, 1940–2021

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.