Human names/Clara

The name Clara is a feminine name in the English language. It is derived from the Latin name Clarus, which means "clear, bright, famous." The name Clarus, which is the masculine version of Clara, was borne by many early male Christian saints; the name Clara took off in popularity in the 13th century after Saint Clare of Assisi (called Chiara in Italian), one of the followers of Saint Francis, renounced her privileged background and founded the order of Poor Clares, the cloistered clergy whose members gave up the right to own wealth or property to dedicate their lives to religious service.

Clare was the main English form of the name used in the Middle Ages, but the Latin spelling Clara became more popular starting in the 19th century.

The name "Clara" has been popular in multiple countries since the 19th century. In the United States, it has been in the top 1000 in every year since records began in 1880, and Behind the Name, under the category of "never outside the US top 100", lists it as one of 297 names with this trait. In the United States, its relative peak occurred in 1901, when 2319 girls were given the name, or 0.912% (one in 109) girls that year. The absolute peak occurred in 1918, with 5778 girls given that name that year. In the early years of recordkeeping, Clara was in the top 10 in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1890. The name Clara declined significantly in popularity for most of the 20th century, but it has resurged steadily in popularity since the 1990s. In 1991, it re-entered the top 500 for the first time since 1972, and in 2009, it re-entered the top 200 for the first time since 1952. For the past 8 years (since 2014), its rank has hovered between 95 and 110 on the list, reaching the top 100 in 2015, 2017, and 2019 (#98, #95, and #95, respectively). In 2021, the name was #102, given to 2675 girls, making 2021 the ninth consecutive year that "Clara" was given to at least 2500 girls.

Famous people

• Clara Alm (born 1996), Swedish footballer
• Clara Amfo (born 1984), British broadcaster and presenter
• Clara Arthur (1858–1929), American suffragist
• Clara Ayres (1880–1917), American nurse during the First World War
• Clara Barton (1821–1912), pioneer American teacher, nurse and humanitarian
• Clara Doty Bates (1838–1895), American author
• Clara Nettie Bates (1876-1966), American editor, writer, clubwoman
• Clara Bancroft Beatley (1858-1923), American educator, lecturer, author
• Clara Beyers (1880–1950), American actress
• Clara Bindi (born 1927), Italian actress
• Clara Blandick (1876–1962), American actress
• Clara Bonde (1806–1899), Swedish courtier and royal favourite
• Clara Bow (1905–1965), American actress
• Clara Louise Burnham (1854–1927), American novelist
• Clara Butt (1872–1936), English contralto
• Clara Germana Cele, South African woman stated in 1906 to have suffered demonic possession
• Clara Marguerite Christian (1895–1964), first black woman to study at the University of Edinburgh
• Clara Chung (born 1987), Korean-American singer/guitarist also known by her stage name, * Clara C
• Clara Rankin Coblentz (1863-1933), American social reformer
• Clara Eliot (1896–1976), economist
• Clara Shortridge Foltz (1849-1934), first female attorney on the Pacific Coast, suffrage leader, founder of the public defender movement
• Clara Grima (born 1971), Spanish mathematician
• Clara Haskil (1895–1960), Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire
• Clara H. Hazelrigg (1861–1937), American author, educator and social reformer
• Clara Horton (1904–1976), American actress
• Clara Hughes (born 1972), Canadian athlete who has won medals in both the summer and winter Olympics
• Clara Immerwahr (1870–1915), German chemist, first wife of Fritz Haber
• Clara Landsberg (1873–1966), American educator
• Clara Lee (born 1985; real name Lee Sung-min), South Korean actress
• Clara Lemlich (1886–1982), union organizer, consumer activist, member of the Communist Party
• Clara Luper (1923–2011), American civil rights leader
• Clara Maniu (1842–1929), Romanian feminist
• Clara Morgane (born 1981), French porn star and singer
• Clara Mulholland (1849–1934), Irish writer
• Clara Ng (born 1973), Indonesian writer
• Clara Paget (born 1988), British model and actress
• Clara Petacci (1912–1945), mistress of Benito Mussolini
• Clara Rockmore (1911–1998), Lithuanian virtuosa of the theremin
• Clara Schønfeld (1856–1938), Danish actress
• Clara Schumann (1819–1896), German pianist, composer
• Clara Sosa (born 1993), Paraguayan model, television personality and beauty queen
• Clara Harrison Stranahan (1831–1905), American author, college founder
• Clara Tott (1440–1520), German singer
• Clara Augusta Jones Trask (1839–1805), American writer
• Clara Ursin (1828–1890), Norwegian (originally Danish) stage actress and opera singer
• Clara Belle Williams (1885–1994), first African-American graduate of New Mexico State University
• Clara Kimball Young (1890–1960), American actress
• Clara Zetkin (1857–1933), German Marxist theorist and women's rights activist

Science

• Club cells, low columnar/cuboidal cells with short microvilli, found in the small airways (bronchioles) of the lungs, were formerly known as Clara cells.
• Clara is a genus of moths.
• Clara was a rhinoceros who toured Europe in the 18th century.