Head to head · Girls' names
Claire vs Clara
#68 vs #63 in 2025
Clara is a whisker ahead (#63 vs #68 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Clara is back after a long quiet spell, Claire is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Clara leads 4 measures of 6; Claire leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Claire #304, Clara #10 — Clara higher
- 1890s: Claire #275, Clara #12 — Clara higher
- 1900s: Claire #236, Clara #24 — Clara higher
- 1910s: Claire #208, Clara #38 — Clara higher
- 1920s: Claire #158, Clara #55 — Clara higher
- 1930s: Claire #163, Clara #81 — Clara higher
- 1940s: Claire #210, Clara #137 — Clara higher
- 1950s: Claire #261, Clara #230 — Clara higher
- 1960s: Claire #406, Clara #378 — Clara higher
- 1970s: Claire #486, Clara #539 — Claire higher
- 1980s: Claire #255, Clara #546 — Claire higher
- 1990s: Claire #132, Clara #422 — Claire higher
- 2000s: Claire #82, Clara #266 — Claire higher
- 2010s: Claire #49, Clara #118 — Claire higher
- 2020s: Claire #64, Clara #92 — Claire higher
Clara stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Claire has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Claire | Clara |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #304 | #10 |
| 1890s | #275 | #12 |
| 1900s | #236 | #24 |
| 1910s | #208 | #38 |
| 1920s | #158 | #55 |
| 1930s | #163 | #81 |
| 1940s | #210 | #137 |
| 1950s | #261 | #230 |
| 1960s | #406 | #378 |
| 1970s | #486 | #539 |
| 1980s | #255 | #546 |
| 1990s | #132 | #422 |
| 2000s | #82 | #266 |
| 2010s | #49 | #118 |
| 2020s | #64 | #92 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Claire
- Canada#55
Clara
- Canada#20
- Scotland#82
- England & Wales#84
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Claire
bright, clear
From a Latin adjective that meant clear or bright and then, by an easy extension, famous. The name and the words clarity and declare all descend from it, which makes the sense unusually easy to demonstrate.
clarus → Clare → Claire
How it traveled
There is a large Irish Clare that has nothing to do with any of this. County Clare takes its name from an Irish word meaning a flat place or a plank — most likely a board bridge across a river at Clarecastle — and the resemblance to the personal name is a complete coincidence of spelling.
Clara
clear, bright
The Latin adjective means clear in every sense the English word has: transparent, audible, obvious, famous. It gives English clarify, declare, clarion and clear itself. As a name it spread across Catholic Europe with a thirteenth-century saint and became enormous in nineteenth-century America, and it is now back in the top hundred after three generations away.
a Latin adjective meaning clear or bright → a thirteenth-century saint spreads the name across Europe → an enormous American wave at the end of the nineteenth century → three generations out of use → back in the top hundred in this century
How it traveled
She wrote in her diary that she had once believed she had creative gift, but had given up the idea: a woman must not wish to compose, and why should she expect to be the one to do it. She was nineteen when she wrote it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Claire
KLAIR
One syllable. The i changes nothing audible in English, though French gives the vowel a slightly different quality that American speakers do not reproduce.
- Clairey — An affectionate ending added; used in childhood more than after it.
- Cee — The initial alone; short, plain and shared with a great many names.
Clara
KLAIR-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. The first vowel divides the English-speaking world — KLAR-uh in Britain and Ireland, KLAIR-uh in most of America — and both are entirely correct.
- Clarrie — The old British short form, warm and currently unfashionable enough to be interesting.
- Lala — Built from the sound; a family form rather than a public one.
Who has carried each name
Claire
Claire Danes (b. 1979) — Homeland's Emmy-winning star
Claire Foy (b. 1984) — The Crown's young Queen Elizabeth II
Clara
Clara Barton (b. 1821) — Founded the American Red Cross
Clara Schumann (b. 1819) — Piano virtuoso who premiered Brahms's music
Clara Bow (b. 1905) — The original "It girl" of silent film
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Claire if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsClaire is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesClaire is 1 syllable to Clara's 2
- a name that feels very nowClaire is stepping back from its peak
Choose Clara if you want…
- a name on the way upup 40 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itClara runs 2 syllables, Claire 1
- a name that charts abroad tooClara is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland and England & Wales
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 77% for Claire
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Claire
Strengths
- One syllable, unambiguous in sound, and recognized across Europe.
- The meaning is bright and positive and easy to demonstrate from ordinary English words.
- It has stayed in use continuously rather than arriving with a fashion.
To consider
- Clare is equally standard, so the spelling will be queried for life.
- It is currently common enough that a child may not be the only one.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Clara
Strengths
- It works without alteration in English, Spanish, German, Italian and Scandinavian.
- The meaning is clear, positive and easy to explain to a child.
- It is old enough to be beyond fashion and current enough not to sound like a costume.
To consider
- The first vowel is said two ways and she will hear both.
- It is rising fast, so it will be commoner among her contemporaries than in the record.
- Clara, Claire and Clare are close enough that all three will be substituted.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Claire
77%chance Claire feels dated by 2040
Claire is coming down from a big peak (#40 in 2016). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Clara
12%chance Clara feels dated by 2040
Clara has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Claire and Clara in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Claire and Clara?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Claire and Clara — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Claire or Clara — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Claire or Clara?
- Clara, in 2025: Clara ranked #63 with 3,601 babies; Claire ranked #68 with 3,487 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Claire or Clara?
- Clara. Over the last five years Claire moved down 10 places; Clara moved up 40 places.
- Which is the older name, Claire or Clara?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Claire and Clara?
- About 170,000 people named Claire are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 108,000 people named Clara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Claires or Claras in the classroom?
- Claire will almost certainly be the only one in school. Clara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Claire, Clara and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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