Cline as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Cline

What is the meaning of the name Cline ?

The baby name Cline is a Unisex name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced KLINE (IPA: /klaɪn/).

Cline is English, German, Irish, Scottish in Origin.

Cline is a brisk, one-syllable given name drawn from surnames with two main sources. In German, it reflects Klein, from Middle High German klein “small,” a nickname for a younger person or someone of slight build that later Americanized as Cline. In Scotland and Ireland, Clyne/Cline can trace to place-names ultimately from Gaelic cluain “meadow, pasture” (sometimes interpreted as claon “slope”), evoking open fields and gentle hills.

Used as a given name in the United States since the late 1800s, Cline fits the long tradition of adopting family surnames for sons and, more recently, for daughters as well. It remains uncommon but familiar thanks to the surname’s visibility - think of country icon Patsy Cline - and today appeals for its clean sound. Variant spellings and cognates include Kline, Klein, Klyne, Kleine, and Clyne. Meanings vary by lineage: “small” or “meadow/pasture.”