Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas in Scotland bordering Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire, and is otherwise surrounded by the Firth of Clyde.
The area was a district in its own right within the Strathclyde Region from 1975 until 1996. Inland Inverclyde is bordered by the Kelly, North and South Routen burns to the south west separating Wemyss Bay and Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire, part of the River Gryfe and the Finlaystone Burn to the south-east.
The name derives from the extinct barony of Inverclyde (1897) conferred upon Sir John Burns of Wemyss Bay and his heirs.