Clara
Meaning of Clara
Clara is the feminine form of the Latin adjective clarus, meaning "clear," "bright" or "famous." Standard name dictionaries trace it to that root, and the name has been used in English since the medieval period. The Italian and Spanish forms are pronounced KLAH-rah; English speakers say KLAR-uh.
The name's best-known associations are unusually strong in both music and public life. Clara Schumann was a German pianist and composer whose career spanned 61 years and who became a leading figure of the Romantic era. Clara Barton, a self-taught Civil War nurse, founded the American Red Cross. Clara Bow, the silent-film actress, became the "It Girl" of the 1920s.
Clara has never left American use and has moved through two very different phases. It was a top-20 name in the late nineteenth century, ranking 12th in 1880 and peaking at 7th in 1885, then declined steadily through the twentieth century, falling to 594th in 1978. Its revival has been steep: it re-entered the top 100 in 2015 and reached 63rd in 2025, with 3,601 babies given the name that year.
The name is sometimes linked to Clarissa, of which it can be considered a short form, though Clara also stands on its own as a Latin name.
Pronunciation
Italian
- Pronunced as KLAH-rah (/'kla.ra/)
Spanish
- Pronunced as KLAH-rah (/'kla.ɾa/)
English
- Pronunced as KLAR-uh (/'klɛrə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Clara
| Clara Bow was an American actress who became the It Girl of the Roaring Twenties, rising from silent film stardom to sound in 1929. |
| Clara Schumann was a German pianist, composer, and teacher who, over a 61 year career, became a leading Romantic figure, reshaped piano recitals, and wrote solo, concerto, chamber, choral, and song works. |
| Clara Barton - Clarissa Harlowe Barton, a self-taught Civil War nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross and was later inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. |
| Clara Tauson is a Danish professional tennis player who reached career highs of world No. 12 in singles and No. 83 in doubles in 2025 and has won three WTA Tour titles on hard courts. |
| Clara Ponsatí - Clara Ponsati i Obiols is a Catalan economist and politician who served as Catalonia's education minister in 2017 before dismissal under Article 155 over the independence referendum, went into exile in Brussels, later taught at the University of St Andrews, and was an MEP from 2020 to 2024. |
| Clara Hughes is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who won two bronze at the 1996 Summer Olympics and four medals across three Winter Olympics. |
| Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist and communist activist who championed women's rights. |
| Clara Luper was a pioneering Oklahoma City teacher and civil rights leader who led the 1958 sit ins that desegregated lunch counters, spearheaded more protests through 1964, and later ran for the United States Senate. |
| Clara Lemlich Shavelson led New York's 1909 Uprising of 20,000, was blacklisted for union activism, later joined the Communist Party and became a consumer activist, and in old age organized her nursing home staff. |
| Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud was an American concert singer and the only surviving child of Mark Twain who managed his legacy, wrote biographies of her father and Ossip Gabrilowitsch, later married Jacques Samossoud, and became a Christian Scientist. |
| Clara Susanna Henry is a Swedish actress, comedian, blogger, TV presenter, and author with about 372,000 YouTube subscribers, host of a Kanal 5 talk show, and a two-time backstage reporter at SVT’s Melodifestivalen. |
| Clara Bewick Colby - Clara Dorothy Bewick Colby was a British American suffrage leader, lecturer, and newspaper publisher who founded The Womans Tribune and became the first woman officially appointed a war correspondent during the Spanish American War. |
