Frequency: (137)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
English: habitational name from somewhere in northern England. Ancliffe Hall in Lancashire is a possibility, but Reaney and Wilson derive it from Arncliffe, Arnecliff, or Ingleby Arncliffe, in Yorkshire, all of which are named from Old English earn ‘eagle’ (genitive plural earna) + clif ‘cliff’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
