Clara
- Pronunciation
- [Cla-ra]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Bright
- Origin
- Romanian
About the Name Clara
Clara is the Latin and Italian form of Clare, descending from the Latin clarus meaning "clear," "bright," or "shining." The name's Christian anchor is Saint Clare of Assisi (1194–1253), the Italian noblewoman who became a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi and founded the Order of Poor Ladies (later the Poor Clares), one of the major medieval Christian women's monastic orders. The Italian Saint Chiara (the Italian form of Clara) anchors the name in Italian Catholic tradition.
The name has been continuously used across European Christian-influenced naming traditions for over a millennium. Notable bearers include German pianist Clara Schumann (1819–1896), one of the major Romantic-era pianists and the wife of composer Robert Schumann; American Civil War nurse Clara Barton (1821–1912), founder of the American Red Cross; American actress Clara Bow (1905–1965, the original "It Girl" of 1920s silent film); and contemporary actress Clara McGregor.
Clara held a US top-25 girls' rank from 1880 through 1900 and remained in the top 100 through 1930. After a long mid-20th-century quiet period, the name has been climbing again through the 2010s as part of the broader vintage-revival wave alongside Charlotte and Eleanor. Clara reached the US top 100 by 2020 and the top 75 by 2023. The name's appeal is its compact Latin elegance — two short syllables, soft consonants, the inherent meaning of clarity and brightness giving it a positive register, and the multi-saint Christian pedigree giving it dignified depth. Common nicknames are scarce since the name is already short — Clarrie, Clary, and the rare Lala each occasionally appear; the longer formal forms Clarissa, Clarinda, and Claribel are sometimes used as Clara's official-document version. International forms include Claire (French/English), Klara (Polish/German), Chiara (Italian, from the same root), and the rare older English Clarinda.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Clara
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Clara by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1918 with 5,778 girls named Clara (girl rank #43 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #63 for girls (3,601 US births). That's 20 places below its 1918 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Clara Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Clara the strongest states are South Dakota, District of Columbia, Minnesota.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | #31 | 173 |
| 2 | District of Columbia | #39 | 161 |
| 3 | Minnesota | #41 | 889 |
| 4 | Nebraska | #42 | 320 |
| 5 | Utah | #44 | 649 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | #47 | 768 |
| 7 | Wyoming | #49 | 46 |
| 8 | Iowa | #50 | 435 |
| 9 | North Dakota | #55 | 130 |
| 10 | Vermont | #57 | 61 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | #224 | 120 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #174 | 414 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #174 | 261 |
| 4 | Florida | #173 | 938 |
| 5 | New Mexico | #172 | 80 |
| 6 | Mississippi | #166 | 159 |
| 7 | Arizona | #158 | 373 |
| 8 | California | #156 | 2,007 |
| 9 | Texas | #131 | 2,089 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | #129 | 45 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Clara in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiara | Dark. Feminine Of Ciaran. | Female | Irish |
| Claire | Clear. Bright | Female | French |
| Clarice | Variant Of Claire Or Clarice. Bright: Shining And Gentle: Famous. | Female | English |
| Clarissa | Clear | Female | Spanish |
| Clarisse | Bright: Shining And Gentle: Famous. | Female | French |
| Klara | "Clear, Bright" | Female | French |
Famous People Named Clara
3 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Clara.
- Clara Barton — Entrepreneur (1821)
- Clara Bow — Movie Actress (1905)
- Clara Wieck Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era.
Looking for names like Clara?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Clara to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Clara against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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