Claire

French form of Clara

"bright, clear"

Claire Origin and Meaning

The name Claire is a girl's name of French origin meaning "bright, clear".

Claire, luminous, simple, and strong, is one of those special names that is familiar yet distinctive, feminine but not frilly, combining historical depth with a modern edge. And though Claire is enjoying revived popularity, it will never be seen as trendy. Claire is also a great middle name choice.

Claire is the French form of Clara, a feminine derivation of the Latin masculine name Clarus. The French word for "clear," Claire’s meaning, is clair, and was traditionally a male name. Now the spelling is used mainly for girls, along with Clare, and occasionally Klaire or Klare.

Claire is usually seen as the French spelling of the name, while the equally appropriate Clare is English and Clair is French too. Clara, once seen as a stuffier version, has lately gained some fashion edge, primarily because it has more vintage charm and is somewhat more unusual. The Italian Chiara is another recommended choice.

Famous women named Claire include the medieval Saint Clare of Assisi (who was made the patron saint of television in 1958 because of her reputed power to see events at a distance), writer Clare Booth Luce, silent screen siren Clara Bow, and actresses Claire Bloom and Claire Danes.

There have been countless fictional Claires as well, including ideal mom Clair Huxtable, Molly Ringwald's character in The Breakfast Club, Clare Kendry in Nella Larsen's novel Passing, and characters in House of Cards, Lost, Six Feet Under, Modern Family, and the Outlander series.

Claire Rank in US Top 1000

# 67 in the US

Claire Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 61 on Nameberry

Claire Popularity

• 67 US 2023
• 61 Nameberry 2024
• 57 Canada 2023
• 57 Future 2028
• 988 England 2021
• 96 Australia 2022
• 452 Germany 2016

20 Names Similar to Claire

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Claire.

• Clara
• Caroline
• Charlotte
• Elizabeth
• Grace
• Alice
• Audrey
• Anna
• Eleanor
• Jane
• Nora
• Emma
• Amelia
• Lucy
• Olivia
• Kate
• Juliet
• Chloe
• Evelyn
• Rose

Famous People Named Claire

• Claire Catherine Danes American actress
• Claire Rhiannon Holt Australian actress
• Claire Foy English actress
• Claire Cook American novelist
• (Lauren) Claire Skinner English actress
• Claire Denis French film director
• Claire Trevor American actress
• Claire Gibault French politician
• Claire Labine American soap opera writer and producer
• Claire Lee Chennault male American military aviator
• Claire Conner McCaskill U.S. Senator from Missouri
• Claire Shipman American TV journalist
• Claire McDowell American silent film actress
• Claire Elizabeth Coffee American actress
• Claire Antonia Forlani English actress
• Claire Victoria Marshall English broadcast journalist
• Claire Messud American novelist
• Claire Titelman American actress
• Claire Margaret Corlett Canadian actress
• Claire Louise Evans Miss Wales 2005
• Claire Robinson American celebrity chef
• Claire Buffie American photographer
• Claire Bloom (born Patricia Claire Blume) English actress
• Claire Julien (born Claire Alys Pfister) American actress
• Claire Elise Boucher birth name of Canadian musician Grimes
• Claire Pettibone American fashion designer
• Claire Alexandra Windsor Countess of Ulster (nee Booth), physician and wife of Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster
• Claire Margareta Lademacher Princess of Luxembourg, German bioethics researcher
• Claire Louise Coombs Princess of Belgium, English land surveyor and wife of Prince Laurent
• (Hazel) Claire Weekes Australian physician and author
• Claire Yiu Hong Kong actress
• Claire Etcherelli French novelist
• Claire Harris Canadian poet
• Claire Hodgkins American violinist
• Claire Hooper Australian comedienne
• Claire Martin Canadian novelist
• Claire Martin English jazz singer
• Claire Berenice Rayner English journalist and advice columnist
• Claire Yarlett American actress
• Claire Engler American actress
• Claire Zulkey American novelist
• Claire Louise Rutter English operatic soprano
• (Ronnie) Claire Edwards American actress
• Claire Platt daughter of American actor Oliver Platt
• Claire Lauren Rafferty English football player
• Claire Anne Richards English singer with pop group Steps
• Claire Erica Meiland Dutch reality star

Claire in Pop Culture

• Claire Standish character in movie "The Breakfast Club"
• Claire Bennet character on TV's 'Heroes'
• Claire Novak character on TV's "Supernatural"
• Claire Montgomery character in movie "Go"
• Claire Fisher character on TV's 'Six Feet Under'
• Claire Littleton character on TV's 'Lost'
• Claire Kincaid character on TV's "Law & Order"
• Claire Dunphy character on TV's 'Modern Family'
• Claire Redfield character in the 'Resident Evil' video game series
• Claire Danvers character in "Morganville Vampires" by Rachel Caine
• Claire Underwood character on TV's "House of Cards"
• Claire Saunders character on TV's "Dollhouse"
• Claire Richards character in Janet Fitch's "White Oleander"
• Claire Keats character on TV's "NCIS: Red"
• Claire Lyons character in "The Clique" series
• Claire de Valecourt character in G. A. Henty's, St. Bartholomew's Eve
• Claire Kyle character on TV's "My Wife and Kids"
• Claire Jackman character on TV's "Jekyll"
• Claire Pike character in "The Baby,Sitters Club" series
• Claire Abshire character in Audrey Niffenegger's "The Time Traveler's Wife"
• Claire Elizabeth Fraser character in Diana Gabaldon's 'Outlander' series
• Claire Foster character in "Does My Head Look Big in This?" by Randa Abdel,Fattah
• Claire Ellery main character in video game "Strange Cases: The Secrets of Grey Mist Lake"
• Claire Farron aka Lightning main character in video game "Final Fantasy XIII"
• Claire Setilan character in video game "Magna Carta 2"
• Claire Foley character in the Professor Layton video game series
• "Planet Claire " song by the The B,52's
• Marie Claire women's magazine
• Claire's chain jewelry and accessory store
• Claire Green character on TVs "Promised Land"
• Claire Conyers character in G. A. Henty's, Orange and Green
• Claire Dearing character in film "Jurassic World"
• Claire Densmore character from the "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" series
• Claire character from the "Hidden"
• Claire character in short story collection "Solegasm" by author Tina Tirrell
• Claire character in Lois Lowry's book "Son"
• Clare Edwards character from TV series "Degrassi: The Next Generation"
• Claire Nuñez character in the Netflix series "Trollhunters"
• Claire Miller character in TV series "Lizzie McGuire"
• Claire McLeod character in Australian Tv Series "McLeod's Daughters"