Given name & surname
Cleve
“one who lives near the cliff”
Cleve is a variant of Clive. One English interpretation is “one who lives near the cliff.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Cleve is a variant of Clive. One English interpretation is “one who lives near the cliff.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Cleve is a variant of Clive. An origin associated with Clive is Old English.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1882. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Cleve is a variant of Clive. The history of Clive gives this family its wider story. Clive’s naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Cleve through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 4,529
- 4,506 boys · 23 girls
- Most popular year
- 1951
- 83 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2013. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 83 in 1951. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,840 as a first name in 2020; 303 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Cleve
- Cleve MolerAmerican mathematician specializing in numerical analysis (1939 - 2026)
- Cleve LivingstonAmerican rowerborn 1947
- Cleve JonesAmerican LGBT rights and AIDS activistborn 1954
- Cleve BacksterIntroduced polygraph or "lie-detector" tests, worked in the CIA. Later performed experiments and theorized "plant perception". (1924-2013)
- Cleve AbbottAmerican sports coach, athletics administrator, educator (1894–1955)1892–1955
- Cleve BenedictAmerican politicianborn 1935
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Cleve, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Cleveland
“from the land of clifffs”
>99% boys
Jacque
“he who supplants” · “the supplanter”
>99% boys
Rise
“one who laughs often”
76% boys · 24% girls
Cliff
“from the town near the cliff” · “from the ford near the cliff”
>99% boys
Steve
“crowned with garland” · “crowned in victory”
>99% boys
Stevan
“crowned with garland”
>99% boys
Blane
Blane is a surname.
>99% boys
Ike
“full of laughter” · “a man from France; one who is free”
>99% boys