Clare
A feminine name deriving from the Latin word clarus, meaning "bright or clear".
Name Census estimates that about 22,065 living Americans carry the first name Clare. It is a predominantly female name (91.1% of registrations). The average person named Clare today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Clare births was 1999 (512 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Clare. 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 Clare with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,534 Americans
Peak year
1999
512 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1999 SSA rank
#949
Tracked since 1880
Census
Clare in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 25,767 people with the first name Clare, which placed it at #1,377 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
#1,377
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
25,767 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Clare
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clare is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Clare 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 Clare at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.4% · 22,789
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 908
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 873
- Two or more races2.5% · 642
- Black or African American2.0% · 504
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 51
Gender
Gender distribution for Clare
Clare leans heavily female at 91.1% of total registrations, but 3,053 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Clare as a male name
- Ranked #10,183 in 1999
- 5 male births in 1999
- Peak: 1920 (103 births)
Clare as a female name
- Ranked #949 in 2024
- 276 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (510 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clare leans strongly female. 24,926 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 838 male bearers (3.3%).
Popularity
Clare: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Clare from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,396 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Clare remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Clare 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 Clare during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Clares live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Clare, while Nevada, North Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 581 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Clare
The name Clare is derived from the Latin word "clarus", meaning "bright" or "clear". It has its origins in the Roman era and was initially used as a masculine name.
During the Middle Ages, the name gained popularity as a feminine name due to its association with St. Clare of Assisi, a 13th-century Italian saint and follower of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Clare was born Chiara Offreduccio in 1194 and founded the Order of Poor Ladies, now known as the Poor Clares.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Clare as a feminine name comes from the 12th century, when it was used in England. In the 13th century, the name was also found in France, where it was spelled as "Claire".
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Clare. One of the most famous is Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), the Italian saint who founded the Order of Poor Ladies. Another is Clare of Montefalco (1268-1308), an Italian Augustinian nun and mystic.
In the 14th century, Clare Gamelyn (c. 1292-1335) was an English heiress and landowner, known for her involvement in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. In the 16th century, Clare Conduit Paston (c. 1504-1553) was an English gentlewoman and letter writer, whose correspondence provides valuable insights into the life of the English gentry during the Tudor period.
In the 19th century, Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) was an American author, politician, and ambassador, known for her plays and her role as the first woman to serve as a major ambassador for the United States.
The name Clare has maintained its popularity throughout the centuries, particularly in the English-speaking world, and continues to be a popular choice for baby girls.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Clare
People
Clare + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Clare 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
Clare: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Clare?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,065 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Clare 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 15,534 US residents.
Is Clare a common name?
We classify Clare as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,225 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Clare most popular?
The single biggest year for Clare was 1999, when 512 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Clare is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Clare in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 25,767 people with the name Clare, or 8.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,377 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 Clare 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 Clare?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Clare leans strongly female. 24,926 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 838 male bearers (3.3%). 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 Clare?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Clare is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Clare most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Clare in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (22,789 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 Clare in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Clare a female name?
Yes, 91.1% of people registered as Clare 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 Clare still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Clare 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 Clare 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 Americans are named Clare?
See how many people share the name Clare on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.