MEANING & HISTORY
What does Clara mean?
Clara is the feminine form of Latin Clarus, an adjective with the senses clear, bright, and famous. The several English glosses reflect related uses of one Latin word rather than three separate name origins.
Saint Clare of Assisi helped establish the feminine name in medieval Europe. Clara preserves a Latinate ending, while Clare and Claire developed in other language forms. The historical adjective supplies a direct meaning without requiring additional ornamental words.
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.
Tagalog
- /ˈklaɾa/Standard-Tagalog
- [ˈk̠laː.ɾɐ]Standard-Tagalog
Cla · ra2 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.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from Spanish Clara, from clara.
a female given name from Spanish, equivalent to English Clara
EnglishEtymology & source
Learned borrowing from Latin clāra, feminine of clārus (“bright, shining, clear”), a post-classical name made famous by the 13th century Saint Clara (Clare) of Assisi. Doublet of Clare and Claire.
A female given name from Latin.
SpanishEtymology & source
a female given name, equivalent to English Clara
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 Clara
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
Clara Benin
Filipino indie singer-songwriter
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Maria Clara Lobregat
Filipino politician
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
2
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Maria Clara Lobregat, Clara Benin
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Clara 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 Clara
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
- Cara♀Beloved in Italian or friend in Irish
- Ciara♀Irish feminine form of Ciar; dark
- Clare♂♀Medieval English form of Clara: clear or bright
- Clark·Clerk, scholar or clergyman; surname-derived name
- Claro♂Bright or clear
- Lara♀Russian familiar form of Larissa
- Claire♀Bright, clear or shining
- Clarita♀Clear; bright, through Clara
What rhymes with Clara?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Recorded combinations with Clara
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Clara 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 Q1114146 — Clara (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Maria Clara Lobregat (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1114146 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Clara Benin (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1114146 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Clara (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Clara (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Clara (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Clara (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.