Clendon is named after Captain James Reddy Clendon who in 1840 traded land he owned in the Bay of Islands with the newly formed New Zealand Government for 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land, then south of Auckland CBD.
James Reddy Clendon (1 October 1800 – 26 October 1872) was an early European settler in New Zealand, the first United States Consul to New Zealand, and a witness to the Treaty of Waitangi.
Clendon became the first United States Consul for New Zealand in 1838 or 1839.