Clara
Clara was given to 3,601 girls in 2025, #63 among girls’ names; 301,540 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 103,000 Americans named Clara and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (34% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 9 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Clara by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Clara mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Clara is “a female given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “bright, shining, clear” (clārus).
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.
/ˈklɛəɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Clara?
#63 among girls’ names, 2025
Clara rose from #98 in 2015 to #63 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.7 to 2.2 per 1,000.
5,800 babies in 1918, the peak
Clara peaked in 1918, when 5,800 babies were given it (5,778 girls, #43 among girls’ names). The 3,601 births of 2025 are 62% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3,601 | #63 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 3,072 | #78 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | 2,662 | #98 | 1.7 |
| 2022 | 2,553 | #110 | 1.6 |
| 2021 | 2,693 | #102 | 1.6 |
| 2020 | 2,696 | #103 | 1.7 |
| 2019 | 2,951 | #95 | 1.8 |
| 2018 | 2,892 | #103 | 1.7 |
| 2017 | 3,045 | #95 | 1.8 |
| 2016 | 3,075 | #100 | 1.7 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,070 | #98 | 1.7 |
| 2014 | 2,860 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 2013 | 2,508 | #131 | 1.4 |
| 2012 | 2,336 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 2011 | 2,078 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 2010 | 1,842 | #167 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 1,650 | #199 | 0.90 |
| 2008 | 1,654 | #204 | 0.87 |
| 2007 | 1,555 | #225 | 0.81 |
| 2006 | 1,497 | #231 | 0.79 |
| 2005 | 1,332 | #246 | 0.72 |
| 2004 | 1,173 | #282 | 0.64 |
| 2003 | 1,060 | #294 | 0.58 |
| 2002 | 1,031 | #303 | 0.57 |
| 2001 | 958 | #323 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 879 | #353 | 0.48 |
| 1999 | 794 | #370 | 0.45 |
| 1998 | 768 | #371 | 0.43 |
| 1997 | 654 | #399 | 0.38 |
| 1996 | 669 | #396 | 0.38 |
| 1995 | 662 | #397 | 0.38 |
| 1994 | 592 | #427 | 0.33 |
| 1993 | 596 | #418 | 0.33 |
| 1992 | 536 | #460 | 0.29 |
| 1991 | 528 | #464 | 0.28 |
| 1990 | 467 | #514 | 0.25 |
| 1989 | 427 | #536 | 0.23 |
| 1988 | 421 | #523 | 0.24 |
| 1987 | 406 | #513 | 0.23 |
| 1986 | 388 | #527 | 0.23 |
| 1985 | 357 | #554 | 0.21 |
| 1984 | 319 | #578 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 310 | #577 | 0.19 |
| 1982 | 327 | #562 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 321 | #579 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 392 | #511 | 0.24 |
| 1979 | 342 | #547 | 0.21 |
| 1978 | 287 | #594 | 0.19 |
| 1977 | 297 | #581 | 0.19 |
| 1976 | 314 | #548 | 0.21 |
| 1975 | 337 | #522 | 0.23 |
| 1974 | 317 | #529 | 0.22 |
| 1973 | 332 | #515 | 0.23 |
| 1972 | 367 | #487 | 0.24 |
| 1971 | 339 | #540 | 0.20 |
| 1970 | 358 | #530 | 0.20 |
| 1969 | 417 | #471 | 0.25 |
| 1968 | 413 | #473 | 0.25 |
| 1967 | 515 | #404 | 0.31 |
| 1966 | 551 | #387 | 0.33 |
| 1965 | 569 | #386 | 0.32 |
| 1964 | 699 | #357 | 0.37 |
| 1963 | 750 | #345 | 0.39 |
| 1962 | 798 | #331 | 0.41 |
| 1961 | 878 | #314 | 0.43 |
| 1960 | 915 | #309 | 0.45 |
| 1959 | 986 | #287 | 0.49 |
| 1958 | 1,027 | #276 | 0.51 |
| 1957 | 1,109 | #258 | 0.54 |
| 1956 | 1,147 | #247 | 0.57 |
| 1955 | 1,300 | #224 | 0.66 |
| 1954 | 1,185 | #234 | 0.61 |
| 1953 | 1,383 | #212 | 0.74 |
| 1952 | 1,511 | #196 | 0.81 |
| 1951 | 1,550 | #186 | 0.86 |
| 1950 | 1,570 | #178 | 0.92 |
| 1949 | 1,711 | #168 | 1.0 |
| 1948 | 1,793 | #160 | 1.1 |
| 1947 | 1,935 | #150 | 1.1 |
| 1946 | 1,913 | #145 | 1.2 |
| 1945 | 1,800 | #136 | 1.4 |
| 1944 | 1,931 | #134 | 1.5 |
| 1943 | 2,083 | #133 | 1.5 |
| 1942 | 2,246 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 1941 | 2,300 | #111 | 1.9 |
| 1940 | 2,316 | #111 | 2.0 |
| 1939 | 2,451 | #103 | 2.2 |
| 1938 | 2,662 | #98 | 2.4 |
| 1937 | 2,573 | #100 | 2.4 |
| 1936 | 2,684 | #91 | 2.6 |
| 1935 | 3,067 | #81 | 2.9 |
| 1934 | 3,222 | #76 | 3.1 |
| 1933 | 3,412 | #67 | 3.4 |
| 1932 | 3,564 | #70 | 3.3 |
| 1931 | 3,899 | #61 | 3.7 |
| 1930 | 4,124 | #64 | 3.7 |
| 1929 | 4,148 | #65 | 3.7 |
| 1928 | 4,106 | #65 | 3.6 |
| 1927 | 4,365 | #63 | 3.7 |
| 1926 | 4,464 | #61 | 3.8 |
| 1925 | 4,776 | #55 | 3.9 |
| 1924 | 4,988 | #56 | 4.0 |
| 1923 | 5,134 | #49 | 4.3 |
| 1922 | 5,126 | #47 | 4.3 |
| 1921 | 5,606 | #45 | 4.5 |
| 1920 | 5,470 | #44 | 4.6 |
| 1919 | 5,404 | #43 | 4.8 |
| 1918 | 5,778 | #43 | 5.0 |
| 1917 | 5,626 | #41 | 5.2 |
| 1916 | 5,544 | #39 | 5.3 |
| 1915 | 5,285 | #38 | 5.4 |
| 1914 | 4,240 | #37 | 5.6 |
| 1913 | 3,633 | #36 | 5.8 |
| 1912 | 3,480 | #34 | 6.2 |
| 1911 | 2,691 | #33 | 6.4 |
| 1910 | 2,665 | #32 | 6.7 |
| 1909 | 2,403 | #32 | 6.9 |
| 1908 | 2,352 | #31 | 7.0 |
| 1907 | 2,319 | #29 | 7.3 |
| 1906 | 2,228 | #27 | 7.5 |
| 1905 | 2,397 | #22 | 8.2 |
| 1904 | 2,281 | #24 | 8.3 |
| 1903 | 2,342 | #20 | 8.9 |
| 1902 | 2,432 | #21 | 9.2 |
| 1901 | 2,319 | #18 | 9.7 |
| 1900 | 2,826 | #19 | 9.4 |
| 1899 | 2,441 | #14 | 10.5 |
| 1898 | 2,731 | #14 | 10.6 |
| 1897 | 2,454 | #15 | 10.5 |
| 1896 | 2,582 | #14 | 10.9 |
| 1895 | 2,613 | #12 | 11.2 |
| 1894 | 2,603 | #11 | 11.7 |
| 1893 | 2,532 | #11 | 11.9 |
| 1892 | 2,661 | #10 | 12.5 |
| 1891 | 2,360 | #11 | 12.7 |
| 1890 | 2,496 | #9 | 13.1 |
| 1889 | 2,319 | #10 | 13.0 |
| 1888 | 2,230 | #11 | 12.5 |
| 1887 | 1,984 | #8 | 13.6 |
| 1886 | 1,916 | #9 | 13.3 |
| 1885 | 1,910 | #7 | 14.4 |
| 1884 | 1,852 | #8 | 14.4 |
| 1883 | 1,548 | #10 | 13.8 |
| 1882 | 1,490 | #11 | 13.8 |
| 1881 | 1,242 | #11 | 13.5 |
| 1880 | 1,226 | #12 | 13.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Clara a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Clara has been given almost only to girls: 1,016 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Clara: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Clara, and how old are they?
103,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 34% of the 301,540 Americans ever recorded as Clara. The median Clara alive today is 22 years old; half are between 9 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 109,248 people named Clara (109,086 women and girls, 162 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 101,356 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 13,300 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 18,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,690 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 7,150 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 21,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 37,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Clara born?
The states with the most babies named Clara are Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, with 18% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 15,316 | #89 | 1.0× |
| New York | 13,537 | #70 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 13,137 | #58 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 11,032 | #41 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 10,729 | #67 | 1.3× |
| California | 10,477 | #116 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 9,510 | #65 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 9,241 | #59 | 1.2× |
| Alabama | 8,427 | #92 | 1.4× |
| Tennessee | 7,746 | #67 | 1.3× |
Where Clara is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Clara is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Clara with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 557,560 babies since 1880, Clara is the most given (54% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,601 of their 7,616 babies (47%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Clara
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Clara and names like it
- Compare Clara and ClaireBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sClara peaked in 1918.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Clara since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Clara: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Clara.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Clara alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.