CLEE

Origins of the surname Clee can be clearly traced to England, with documentary evidence indicating that the name has been in use since at least the early thirteenth century.

The name first appears in the county of Suffolk in 1327, where a Richard Cle is recorded in the pipe rolls. A subsequent mention is found in Gloucestershire in 1359, when a William de Clee is listed in the Letter Books of that county. These entries confirm that Clee was used as a residential surname during the medieval period.

There are several plausible origins for the name. It may be locational, derived from various English places that bear the name Clee, such as the village of Clee in Lincolnshire (recorded as Cleia in the Domesday Book of 1086) or Clee Hills in Staffordshire (recorded as Clivas in 1232). Alternatively, Clee could be a topographic name for a person who lived near a prominent geographical feature, such as a cliff or a steep slope, drawing from the Old English word clif for such a landform. Another possibility is that Clee is a variant spelling of the surname Lee, itself taken from the Old English word leah meaning a wood or a clearing. In some traditions the name may also have connections to the Old English term clawu, meaning claw, used metaphorically to describe a fork in a road or a river, or to claeg, meaning clay, indicating habitation on clay soil or on a clay bed used for pottery making.

Over the centuries the surname Clee has acquired a number of alternative forms. Recorded variants include Clea, Clew, Cley, Cleigh, Cleea, Cleey, Clie, Cliae, and longer forms such as Clelee, Cleelee and Cleelie. These variations reflect regional dialect differences as well as the natural evolution of spelling over time.

In terms of geographical distribution, the name Clee remains relatively uncommon. It is found most frequently in England, reflecting its origin, but also occurs in other English‑speaking countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada, a pattern consistent with historical migration. No particular concentration of the surname occurs beyond the broad distribution across these nations.

In sum, while the precise significance of the surname Clee for any specific family may hinge upon that family’s ancestral narrative, the name is firmly rooted in English topography and history, with its earliest documented presence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and a range of related spellings that have persisted to the present day.

Typical given names associated with the Clee surname

Male

• Adrian
• Albert
• Daniel
• David
• Edward
• James
• John
• Martin
• Michael
• Paul
• Richard
• Scott
• Stephen
• William

Female

• Diane
• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Jane
• Joanne
• Julie
• June
• Kathleen
• Margaret
• Sarah

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

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