Clare - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 1 syll. cla-re, cl-are ] The girl name Clare is also used as a boy name, though the use for girls is more popular. It is pronounced KLEHR ^KEY. Clare's language of origin is Latin and it is predominantly used in English. Derived from the word clarus which has the meaning 'clear, bright, famous'. Clare was used as a medieval form of Clara, itself a feminine form of the Latin Clarus; in modern use, English speakers have adopted Clara as a re-Latinized form of the accepted English name Clare. The name was borne by various Italian saints, most notably Saint Clare of Assisi (1193-1253), founder of the Poor Clares order of nuns. Use of the first name has been reinforced by the surname Clare, which is of a different origin and is ultimately from a county name in Suffolk and the Irish Clare River. The surname was introduced to Ireland by Richard de Clare or 'Stronbow', 2nd Earl of Pembroke (-1176). In literature, Clara has appeared in various romances from the 15th century, and in Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield (1850). In Scotland, Clara has been used as an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Sorcha. The form Clarissa was borne by the heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa (1748). The name has been used as the feminine form of Clarence despite the difference in etymology. Clare is the feminine form of the English and French Clair.

Clare has 20 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of Clare include Claire (used in French as well), Clara (used in Catalan, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish as well), Claretha, Clarine, Clarissa (used in German and Italian as well), Clarita, Claritza, and Clarizza. Other English variants include the pet forms Clarette, Clarice (used in French as well), Clarrie, and Clarry.

Forms of the name used in foreign languages include the Italian Chiara, the German Clarina, the German Clarinde, the French Clarisse, the German, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, and Ukrainian Klara, the German and Latinized Klarissa, and the Czech and Hungarian Klára. The pet form Claretta (Italian) is another foreign variant.

See also the related forms, the English Claribel, the English Clarinda, the English Clarity, the English and German Clarence, and the Irish, Manx, and Scottish Sorcha.

Clare is an all-time favorite. At present it is still a rather popular baby girl name, but not as much as it was in the past. The name has been growing in popularity since the 1980s. Its usage peaked in 1998 with 0.026% of baby girls being named Clare. It had a ranking of #499 then. In 2007, it ranked at #625 with a usage of 0.022%. Among the family of girl names directly related to Clare, the English and French Claire was the most commonly used. It was more commonly used than Clare by 10 times in 2007. In the last century Clare has mainly been a girl name. There were 4 times more girls than boys who were named Clare in 1941.

Baby names that sound like Clare include the English and French Claire, the Catalan, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish Clara, the German, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, and Ukrainian Klara, the Czech and Hungarian Klára, the English Kyler, and the English Cleora.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Clare: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)"

Popularity Trend
for Clare
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Clare
in 2007