Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Clara

The name Clara developed from the Late Latinate adjective “clarus” meaning ‘bright, famous’. Clarus was used for males during the Middle Ages and Clara developed as the feminine form of the name. Clara’s popularity in medieval times was bolstered by the famous Italian Saint Clare (Italian: Chiara) who was a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi in the 13th century and founder of an order of nuns called the Order of Saint Clare (more commonly known as the Poor Clares). In 1212 she was the first woman to have written a monastic Rule of Life for an order and the Poor Clares were known for their extreme and strict adherence to poverty. The name Clare is the anglicized form of the Latin Clara while Claire is the French version. The Latinized version of Clara became widely adopted by English-speaking countries in the 19th century. Today, Clara is especially popular in the countries of Spain and Catalonia where it’s a Top 50 choice for girls.

All About the Baby Name – Clara

Personality

OF THE GIRL NAME CLARA

The number Eight personality has everything to do with power, wealth and abundance. Somehow, this personality has been blessed on the material plane, but their authoritative and problem-solving traits provide evidence that their good fortunes are not just the luck of the lottery. They are well earned. This is the personality of CEOs and high-ranking military personnel. Eights are intensely active, hard-driving individuals. Success is only meaningful to them after a job well-done.  They are remarkable in their ability to see the larger picture right down to the smallest details, and organize a strategy around success. They then have the ability to direct a group around them toward any goal, and realize individual potential to get the most out of their team.

Popularity

OF THE GIRL NAME CLARA

The height of Clara’s popularity in America was in the late 1800s and early 1900s. From the 1930s onward, the name subtlety waned in usage until experiencing its lowest point of popularity in the 1970s and 1980s when it was barely given to 300 baby girls a year. However, since 1990, the name has regained almost 400 positions on the popularity charts. Each year since the turn of the 21st century the name has been attempting to reclaim her former glory days on the charts. Clara is not back on the Top 100 list, but she seems to be headed in that direction. The name is a two-syllable, more feminine sounding alternative to Clare/Claire. True to the name’s etymology, Clara is a clear and bright name. It is also the name borne by America’s most famous “IT girl”, the silent film star Clara Bow. Perhaps your little Clara will one day become “famous” too!

Quick Facts

ON CLARA

GENDER:

Girl

ORIGIN:

Latin

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

2

RANKING POPULARITY:

131

PRONUNCIATION:

KLAYR-ah

SIMPLE MEANING:

Clear, bright, famous

Characteristics

OF CLARA

Authoritative

Powerful

Tough

Tenacious

Wealthy

Problem-solver

Achiever

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Clara

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME CLARA

Clara del Valle is the main female character in Isabel Allende’s 1982 novel, The House of the Spirits, which was made into a movie in 1993, with Meryl Streep playing Clara. Clara is spiritual and other-worldly; she marries the volatile Esteban believing it to be her unalterable fate. Gentle and kind, Clara inspires devotion from others, including Esteban, who loves her beyond description, although he is cruel to her. Nonetheless, she is not an unresisting victim; rather, she chooses her battles and in her quiet way, gets her way. She is a force to be reckoned with, as wife, mother and spiritualist, as well as an advocate for social justice. Clara even exerts her influence from beyond the grave, when she appears after her death to her granddaughter to exhort her to courage during her jail term, and when she gives the errant Esteban the opportunity to die in peace.

Clara Copperfield is the mother of the title character in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, first published in novel form in 1850. She is only twenty when David is born and she is already widowed. She is a beautiful woman and a loving mother to him, but she is also childlike and unable to stand up to her cruel second husband, Mr. Murdstone, who is abusive to David. She even allows herself to be bullied by him into agreeing to send young David away to school. She dies soon after delivering a second son, who dies with her. Perhaps her greatest punishment, however, is the fact that David will always bear a lingering resentment at her inability to protect him.

Clara Peggotty is the nursemaid and “second mother” to David Copperfield. Unlike her mistress, this Clara is very clear sighted about life and its trials, and especially about Mr. Murdstone. She unsuccessfully cautions Mrs. Copperfield against marrying him, and does her best to shield David whenever she can. She is steadfast and loyal and thoroughly sympathetic. She gets her rewards, as well. When her husband dies, she inherits a small fortune, although even this does not deter her from a continuing life of service to others.

Clara is the young girl in Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet “The Nutcracker”, itself an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and as rewritten by Alexander Dumas. The Stahlbaum children’s godfather, Drosselmeyer, gives Clara a magnificent nutcracker for Christmas, and she falls asleep with it under the Christmas tree. This leads to a night of magical dreams during which the Nutcracker comes to life and battles with the Mouse King. When he tires in battle, spunky Clara clobbers the mouse for him. The Nutcracker turns into a handsome Prince and spirits Clara away to an enchanted winter wonderland of sugar plum fairies and dancing snowflakes. Long a children’s favorite at Christmastime, this ballet is graced with a young heroine who is an inspiration to every little girl who gazes at her in awe and admiration.

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME CLARA

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Clara


Popular Songs

ON CLARA

Clara
a song by Marty Robbins

Famous People

NAMED CLARA

Clara Bow (actress)
Clara Barton (nurse/humanitarian)
Clara Blandick (actress)
Clara Schumann (pianist/composer)
Dame Clara Butt (singer)
Clara Bow (actress)
Clara Barton (nurse/humanitarian)
Clara Blandick (actress)
Clara Schumann (pianist/composer)
Dame Clara Butt (singer)
Clara Bow (actress)
Clara Barton (nurse/humanitarian)
Clara Blandick (actress)
Clara Schumann (pianist/composer)
Dame Clara Butt (singer)

Children of Famous People

NAMED CLARA

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Clara

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME CLARA

Clara Barton is most known for founding the American Red Cross. She began her life in Massachusetts as the youngest of five children and became a teacher in early adulthood. She was also a self-taught nurse by way of tending to her brother when he was badly hurt by a fall. Upon the death of her father, Clara Barton remembered: "As a patriot, he had me serve my country with all I had, even with my life if need be; as the daughter of an accepted Mason, he had me seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God and love all kind. The door that nobody else will go in seems always to open widely for me." True to her word, Clara went to aid the soldiers during the American Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” In May of 1881, Clara established the American Red Cross. Her legacy is immense.

Born into the slums of Brooklyn in 1905 as the only daughter of Robert and Sarah Bow, Clara had a harsh upbringing. Sarah was mentally ill resulting from a head injury she sustained as a teenager from a fall and Clara spent much of her childhood taking care of her mother. Her father was often absent and barely supported the family. Perhaps it was this very abject early life that would provide Clara with her acting talent later known for its wide range of emotions. It was as if she could “live inside” any role given to her. The famous director Victor Fleming once compared Clara Bow to a Stradivarius violin: "Touch her and she responded with genius." The turning point of her success came in 1927 when she starred in the silent film “It”, a Cinderella story which would forever stamp Clara with the sobriquet “The It Girl.” She became the biggest female box office draw during the years between 1927 and 1930 and a leading sex symbol of the times. Clara Bow acted in over 50 films spanning from the silent era into the “talkies” but she ended her Hollywood career at the young age of 28. Hollywood and her immense fame never really appealed to Clara Bow. She would go onto marry Rex Bell and retire as a Nevada rancher raising her two sons.

Clara Barton is most known for founding the American Red Cross. She began her life in Massachusetts as the youngest of five children and became a teacher in early adulthood. She was also a self-taught nurse by way of tending to her brother when he was badly hurt by a fall. Upon the death of her father, Clara Barton remembered: "As a patriot, he had me serve my country with all I had, even with my life if need be; as the daughter of an accepted Mason, he had me seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God and love all kind. The door that nobody else will go in seems always to open widely for me." True to her word, Clara went to aid the soldiers during the American Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” In May of 1881, Clara established the American Red Cross. Her legacy is immense.

Born into the slums of Brooklyn in 1905 as the only daughter of Robert and Sarah Bow, Clara had a harsh upbringing. Sarah was mentally ill resulting from a head injury she sustained as a teenager from a fall and Clara spent much of her childhood taking care of her mother. Her father was often absent and barely supported the family. Perhaps it was this very abject early life that would provide Clara with her acting talent later known for its wide range of emotions. It was as if she could “live inside” any role given to her. The famous director Victor Fleming once compared Clara Bow to a Stradivarius violin: "Touch her and she responded with genius." The turning point of her success came in 1927 when she starred in the silent film “It”, a Cinderella story which would forever stamp Clara with the sobriquet “The It Girl.” She became the biggest female box office draw during the years between 1927 and 1930 and a leading sex symbol of the times. Clara Bow acted in over 50 films spanning from the silent era into the “talkies” but she ended her Hollywood career at the young age of 28. Hollywood and her immense fame never really appealed to Clara Bow. She would go onto marry Rex Bell and retire as a Nevada rancher raising her two sons.

Clara Barton is most known for founding the American Red Cross. She began her life in Massachusetts as the youngest of five children and became a teacher in early adulthood. She was also a self-taught nurse by way of tending to her brother when he was badly hurt by a fall. Upon the death of her father, Clara Barton remembered: "As a patriot, he had me serve my country with all I had, even with my life if need be; as the daughter of an accepted Mason, he had me seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God and love all kind. The door that nobody else will go in seems always to open widely for me." True to her word, Clara went to aid the soldiers during the American Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” In May of 1881, Clara established the American Red Cross. Her legacy is immense.

Born into the slums of Brooklyn in 1905 as the only daughter of Robert and Sarah Bow, Clara had a harsh upbringing. Sarah was mentally ill resulting from a head injury she sustained as a teenager from a fall and Clara spent much of her childhood taking care of her mother. Her father was often absent and barely supported the family. Perhaps it was this very abject early life that would provide Clara with her acting talent later known for its wide range of emotions. It was as if she could “live inside” any role given to her. The famous director Victor Fleming once compared Clara Bow to a Stradivarius violin: "Touch her and she responded with genius." The turning point of her success came in 1927 when she starred in the silent film “It”, a Cinderella story which would forever stamp Clara with the sobriquet “The It Girl.” She became the biggest female box office draw during the years between 1927 and 1930 and a leading sex symbol of the times. Clara Bow acted in over 50 films spanning from the silent era into the “talkies” but she ended her Hollywood career at the young age of 28. Hollywood and her immense fame never really appealed to Clara Bow. She would go onto marry Rex Bell and retire as a Nevada rancher raising her two sons.