Head to head · Girls' names
Clara vs Ruby
#63 vs #64 in 2025
Clara is a whisker ahead (#63 vs #64 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Clara is back after a long quiet spell, Ruby is holding its place on the charts.
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; Ruby 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: Clara #10, Ruby #114 — Clara higher
- 1890s: Clara #12, Ruby #67 — Clara higher
- 1900s: Clara #24, Ruby #40 — Clara higher
- 1910s: Clara #38, Ruby #24 — Ruby higher
- 1920s: Clara #55, Ruby #29 — Ruby higher
- 1930s: Clara #81, Ruby #47 — Ruby higher
- 1940s: Clara #137, Ruby #93 — Ruby higher
- 1950s: Clara #230, Ruby #169 — Ruby higher
- 1960s: Clara #378, Ruby #284 — Ruby higher
- 1970s: Clara #539, Ruby #351 — Ruby higher
- 1980s: Clara #546, Ruby #370 — Ruby higher
- 1990s: Clara #422, Ruby #273 — Ruby higher
- 2000s: Clara #266, Ruby #165 — Ruby higher
- 2010s: Clara #118, Ruby #88 — Ruby higher
- 2020s: Clara #92, Ruby #65 — Ruby higher
Ruby stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Ruby has held the lead since the 1910s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Clara | Ruby |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #10 | #114 |
| 1890s | #12 | #67 |
| 1900s | #24 | #40 |
| 1910s | #38 | #24 |
| 1920s | #55 | #29 |
| 1930s | #81 | #47 |
| 1940s | #137 | #93 |
| 1950s | #230 | #169 |
| 1960s | #378 | #284 |
| 1970s | #539 | #351 |
| 1980s | #546 | #370 |
| 1990s | #422 | #273 |
| 2000s | #266 | #165 |
| 2010s | #118 | #88 |
| 2020s | #92 | #65 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Clara
- Canada#20
- Scotland#82
- England & Wales#84
Ruby
- Scotland#30
- England & Wales#41
- Canada#89
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Ruby
The red gemstone; ultimately from Latin ruber, "red"
The chain runs from Latin ruber through Medieval Latin rubinus, the red stone, into Old French and then English.
ruber (Latin, "red") → rubinus (Medieval Latin) → rubi / rubis (Old French) → ruby (English) → Ruby (given name)
How it traveled
The word arrived in English from Old French in the Middle Ages, and stayed a word for centuries before anyone thought to call a daughter by it. That change came in the nineteenth century, when English-speaking parents began naming girls after gemstones and flowers, and Ruby took to it better than most of its neighbors.
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
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.
Ruby
ROO-bee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Pronounced the same as the gemstone, and the same in every English-speaking country — one of the few names that needs no explaining at a roll call.
- Rubes — The everyday informal short form among friends and siblings; almost never written down.
- Roo — A family nickname, usually from the early years, and shared with several other names.
- Ru — Clipped and informal; also stands alone as a short name in its own right.
- Ruby-Rose / Ruby-Mae — Hyphenated compounds are common in British and Irish usage, with Ruby used in full day to day.
Who has carried each name
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
Ruby
Ruby Bridges (b. 1954) — At six, integrated her New Orleans school — immortalized by Norman Rockwell
Ruby Dee (b. 1922) — Stage and screen great of the civil rights era
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 Clara if you want…
- a name on the way upup 40 places on the charts in five years
Choose Ruby if you want…
- a name holding steadyRuby is holding its place on the charts
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Rubes, Roo and Ru
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
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.
Ruby
Strengths
- Everyone can spell it and everyone can say it: it is an ordinary English word, so it survives phone calls, forms and teachers without a second attempt.
- A long unbroken record — in continuous use since the Victorian gemstone fashion, with living bearers across every adult generation.
- Charts on both sides of the Atlantic, in Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada, so it travels without becoming foreign.
To consider
- It is also a common word and a common pet name, so a child will meet the gem, the color and somebody's dog under the same label.
- Rubi, Rubie and Rubey all exist, so expect an occasional wrong letter even though the main spelling is the familiar one.
- It carries a strong period flavor for some listeners — it was a great-grandmother's name before it came back around, and both associations are live at once.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Clara and Ruby 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 Clara and Ruby?
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 Clara and Ruby — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Clara or Ruby — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Clara or Ruby?
- Clara, in 2025: Clara ranked #63 with 3,601 babies; Ruby ranked #64 with 3,554 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Clara or Ruby?
- Clara. Over the last five years Clara moved up 40 places; Ruby moved up 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Clara or Ruby?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Clara and Ruby?
- About 108,000 people named Clara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 160,000 people named Ruby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Claras or Rubys in the classroom?
- Clara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ruby 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 Clara, Ruby and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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