Clara · Daily fortune

Clara is a feminine name of Latin origin, the feminine form of Clarus, which Behind the Name glosses as "clear, bright, famous". A few early saints bore the masculine Clarus, but the feminine form was popularised by the 13th-century Saint Clare of Assisi (Chiara in Italian), a friend and follower of Saint Francis who left her wealthy family to found the Poor Clares. In English the name has been used since the Middle Ages, first as Clare; the Latinate spelling Clara overtook it in the 19th century, declined through most of the 20th as Claire took over, and has since recovered. In the United States it ranked #63 for girls in 2025. It is used across German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Scandinavian and English-speaking countries in the same spelling.

Behind the Name and Wikipedia agree completely. Behind the Name calls Clara the "feminine form of the Latin name Clarus, which meant 'clear, bright, famous'"; Wikipedia derives it from Late Latin Clarus with the same three-word gloss. There is no competing etymology. Behind the Name lists Clarus as the Ancient Roman masculine form and Clair as the French one, and Wikipedia adds that the name is technically unisex but predominantly feminine. Wikipedia also mentions Glara, a Kurdish name it describes as having a common origin and meaning "vision or brightness"; this is noted rather than adopted here.

The masculine Clarus, Behind the Name says, was borne by a few early saints, and Wikipedia likewise notes early male Christian saints of that name. The feminine form's history really begins with Saint Clare of Assisi in the 13th century: a friend and follower of Saint Francis, called Chiara in Italian, who left her wealthy family to found the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares, and whose fame popularised the name. As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages, originally in the form Clare, which Wikipedia calls the main English form of the medieval period. The Latinate spelling Clara overtook Clare in the 19th century and became very popular; Behind the Name then records a decline through most of the 20th century, when the French form Claire eclipsed it in English-speaking countries, followed by a partial recovery. The 19th-century bearers Wikipedia lists, the nurse Clara Barton and the pianist and composer Clara Schumann, belong to the spelling's Victorian heyday. Clara Zetkin (1857–1933), the Marxist theorist and women's rights activist Wikipedia also names, was born at the height of the same fashion.

Clara ranked #63 for girls in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration). Behind the Name describes the longer arc: very popular in the 19th century, in decline for most of the 20th as Claire took its place, and since recovered somewhat. Behind the Name also lists the name as in use in German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, Swedish and Danish as well as English, but no rankings outside the United States were consulted for this draft. That breadth of use, in the same four letters across a dozen languages, is one of the reasons the name travels so well.

Clara is unusual in being spelled identically across most of Western Europe, so the differences are in the vowels. Behind the Name gives IPA for German /ˈklaː.ʁa/, Spanish /ˈkla.ɾa/, Portuguese /ˈkla.ɾɐ/, Italian /ˈkla.ra/ and French /kla.ʁa/, all with a broad a in the first syllable. It gives no IPA for the English entry; in English the name is heard both as KLAR-ə and as KLAIR-ə. Forms in other languages below are those Behind the Name lists under "Other Languages & Cultures", and their pronunciations were not verified in this pass.

Clara is the kind of name that feels antique without feeling fussy: two open syllables, a soft consonant cluster, and a meaning that any parent can explain in one word. It sits with the wave of revived Victorian and Edwardian girls' names (Alice, Eleanor, Josephine, Hazel) and shares their appeal of sounding both old-fashioned and fresh. It has a strong literary and musical aura from Clara Schumann and from the Clara of The Nutcracker, and its near-universal spelling makes it a practical choice for families with roots in more than one European language. Against Claire it reads a shade more romantic and continental. It also gives parents a rare combination: a top-100 name in the United States that nevertheless feels individual, because its 20th-century dip means few of today's grandparents share it.

The defining bearer is the 13th-century saint who gave the name its currency. The 19th-century women below are the bearers Wikipedia singles out, and the fictional entries are those Wikipedia lists; all are restricted to the sources consulted for this profile. Wikipedia notes that its full list runs to more than 200 notable people, which was not mined for this draft.

Names that share Clara's vintage-revival style, its Latin root or its light, open sound.