MEANING & HISTORY
What does Clare mean?
Clare is the medieval English form of Clara, from Latin Clarus, clear, bright, or famous. Saint Clare of Assisi is a major association of this personal-name tradition.
Clare is also the name of an Irish county, but that geographical name has a separate proposed origin. The same spelling should not erase the distinction. The Clara account explains the established given name, while a family may separately choose Clare for an Irish place connection.
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
- /klɛə/Received-Pronunciation
- /klɛɚ/US
- /kleː/Australia
- /kleə/New-Zealand · without the cheer–chair merger
- /kliə/New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
- /kleɹ/Scotland
- /klɜː(ɹ)/Lancashire, fair–fur merger
English
- /klɛə/Received-Pronunciation
- /klɛɚ/US
- /kleː/Australia
- /kleə/New-Zealand · without the cheer–chair merger
- /kliə/New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
- /kleɹ/Scotland
- /klɜː(ɹ)/Lancashire, fair–fur merger
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
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.
EnglishEtymology & source
A male given name transferred from the surname, of quite uncommon usage.
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 Clare
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
Clare Rilloraza Baltazar
entomologist (1927- )
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: Clare Rilloraza Baltazar, Clare Castro
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Clare 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 Clare
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
- Claire♀Bright, clear or shining
- Clara♀Clear, bright, or famous
- Clark·Clerk, scholar or clergyman; surname-derived name
- Claro♂Bright or clear
- Cesare♂Italian form of Caesar
- Claude·French form of Claudius, a Roman family name
- Clavel·Spanish word: carnation
- Clive·Cliff; surname-derived name
What rhymes with Clare?
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.
Explore Clare 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 Q16275208 — Clare (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Clare Rilloraza Baltazar (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16275208 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Clare Castro (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16275208 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Clare (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Clare (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Clara (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.