Clara
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear".
Name Census estimates that about 95,011 living Americans carry the first name Clara. It sits at #78 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Clara today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clara births was 1918 (5,800 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Lance (94,601).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clara. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Clara with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Clara is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,016 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
95K
~ 1 in 3,608 Americans
Peak year
1918
5,800 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2019 SSA rank
#78
Tracked since 1880
Census
Clara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 109,249 people with the first name Clara, which placed it at #519 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#519
National first-name rank
People counted
109K
109,249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clara is White at 59.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Black (10.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Clara described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Clara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.0% · 64,473
- Hispanic or Latino23.3% · 25,447
- Black or African American10.9% · 11,873
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 3,503
- Two or more races2.9% · 3,173
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 780
Gender
Gender distribution for Clara
Out of the 297,914 babies given the name Clara since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Clara as a male name
- Ranked #12,517 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1930 (32 births)
Clara as a female name
- Ranked #78 in 2024
- 3,060 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (5,778 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clara appears almost entirely female. Of the 109,248 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Clara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clara from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 48,392 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clara by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Clara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Claras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Clara, while Nevada, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,453 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clara
The name Clara has its origins in the Latin language and culture, deriving from the word "clarus" which means "bright" or "clear." It first emerged as a feminine form of the masculine name Clarus during the Roman era.
Clara gained widespread popularity during the early Christian period as a name for girls born into noble Roman families. It was particularly favored by those following the Christian faith, as it was seen as a symbol of spiritual clarity and enlightenment.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Clara can be found in the 13th century, when St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, was born with this name. Her life and devotion to the Franciscan ideals helped popularize the name across Europe.
Another notable figure with the name Clara was Clara Schumann (1819-1896), a German composer and pianist who was one of the most influential and celebrated musicians of the Romantic era.
In the literary world, Clara Reeve (1729-1807) was an English novelist and playwright who made significant contributions to the development of the Gothic novel genre with her work "The Old English Baron."
The name Clara also has historical connections to the world of science and exploration. Clara Barton (1821-1912) was an American pioneer in the field of nursing and is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross.
Another Clara who left her mark on history was Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), a German Marxist theorist and activist who played a pivotal role in the establishment of International Women's Day.
Throughout the centuries, the name Clara has been widely used across various cultures and regions, with its meaning and associations reflecting the ideals of brightness, clarity, and enlightenment.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Clara
People
Clara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Clara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95,011 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clara going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,608 US residents.
Is Clara a common name?
We classify Clara as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 297,914 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clara most popular?
The single biggest year for Clara was 1918, when 5,800 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clara is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 109,249 people with the name Clara, or 36.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #519 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Clara in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Clara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clara appears almost entirely female. Of the 109,248 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Clara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clara is White at 59.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Black (10.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Clara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.0% (64,473 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Clara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clara a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Clara in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Clara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clara in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Clara can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Clara as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Clara on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.