The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'red cliff', referring to the colour of the local soil and its location on a cliff overlooking the River Ouse. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Radeclive.
The parish is known as 'Radclive-cum-Chackmore', although Radclive and the hamlet of Chackmore are two distinctly separate places.