MEANING & HISTORY
What does Claire mean?
Claire is the French form related to Clara and English Clare. The Latin source clara is the feminine form of clarus, bright, clear or shining.
Saint Clare of Assisi is a major Christian association in this family of names. The clear gloss is the linguistic root; ideas such as mental clarity are later interpretations rather than another ancient component.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
English
- /ˈklɛə/Received-Pronunciation · non-rhotic
- [ˈkʰl̥ɛə]Received-Pronunciation · non-rhotic
- /ˈkleː/Australia · non-rhotic
- [ˈkʰl̥eː]Australia · non-rhotic
- /ˈkle̝ə/New-Zealand · non-rhotic; without the cheer–chair merger
- [ˈkʰl̥e̝ə]New-Zealand · non-rhotic; without the cheer–chair merger
- /ˈkliə/New-Zealand · non-rhotic; cheer–chair merger
- [ˈkʰl̥iə]New-Zealand · non-rhotic; cheer–chair merger
- /ˈklɜː/non-rhotic; Lancashire, fair–fur merger
- [ˈkʰl̥ɜː]non-rhotic; Lancashire, fair–fur merger
- /ˈklɛɚ/Canadian · General-American · Standard · rhotic
- [ˈkʰl̥ɛɚ] ~ [ˈkʰl̥ɛɹ̩]Canadian · General-American · Standard · rhotic
- /ˈkleɹ/Scotland · rhotic
- [ˈkl̥eɹ]Scotland · rhotic
Claire1 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Borrowed from French Claire, also a spelling variant of the English Clare.
A female given name from French.; A male given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage, variant of Clare.
Wiktionary: Claire (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
Medieval English vernacular form of Clara, from the Latin clara, feminine of clarus (“bright, shining, clear”), a post-classical name made famous by the 13th century Saint Clara of Assisi. In Oxfordshire, from Clarora, a clay slope.
A unisex given name from Latin, more often spelled Claire from the 20th century onward.
Wiktionary: Claire (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Claire
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Claire Celdran
Filipino journalist
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Claire Ruiz
Filipino actress
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
4
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Claire Celdran, Claire Ruiz
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Claire in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Claire
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Clare♂♀Medieval English form of Clara: clear or bright
- Clara♀Clear, bright, or famous
- Clark·Clerk, scholar or clergyman; surname-derived name
- Claro♂Bright or clear
- Claude·French form of Claudius, a Roman family name
- Clive·Cliff; surname-derived name
- Clarita♀Clear; bright, through Clara
- Claudine♀French feminine form of Claude
What rhymes with Claire?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Claire
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Claire further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q1094751 — Claire (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Claire Celdran (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1094751 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Claire Ruiz (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1094751 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Claire (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Claire (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Claire (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.