Meaning not yet researched.
Clara: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 3,601 in 2025. Its best rank was #7 in 1885.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #7 in 1885; #63 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Clara in 2025 was a girl.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#63 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1885, at #7.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Clara: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 3,601 girls in 2025. Peak: #7 in 1885 · most girls in one year: 5,778 (1918).
In 2025, 3,601 US girls were named Clara, making it the 63rd most common girls’ name of the year, up 15 places from #78 in 2024. That is 529 more than the 3,072 girls named Clara in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #7, reached in 1885. The most girls given the name in a single year was 5,778, in 1918. For comparison, it was #98 in 2015 and #178 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Clara in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 1,234 babies with the name. In all, 301,540 US babies have been given the name, 99.6% of them girls and 0.3% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1920s, with 48,392 babies named Clara.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 29,240 US girls were named Clara; the busiest of those years was 2025, with 3,601. In 2025 that was about 1 in 446 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Clara ranked highest in Nebraska in 2025, at #13 for girls there. It was in the top 100 in 42 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Claire (214,123 babies since 1880), Clare (34,510 babies since 1880), Chiara (5,927 babies since 1880) and Klara (3,087 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Klaira, Clarah and Clarra are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Clarissa.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in Catalan, Dutch, Galician, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Klaira (309), Clarah (23), Clarra (13), Clairah (6).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
Clara is listed as a nickname for Claire, Clare, Clarinda, Clarissa.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 2 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 54 | #13 | #44 |
| North Dakota | 22 | #21 | #42 |
| Maine | 22 | #28 | #58 |
| South Dakota | 19 | #28 | #48 |
| Minnesota | 101 | #29 | #40 |
| Vermont | 11 | #31 | #49 |
| Wisconsin | 94 | #31 | #55 |
| Montana | 17 | #34 | #31 |
| Missouri | 102 | #36 | #94 |
| Iowa | 54 | #37 | #51 |
| Kansas | 52 | #38 | #60 |
| Indiana | 108 | #40 | #78 |
| Ohio | 176 | #41 | #66 |
| New Hampshire | 23 | #42 | #62 |
| Utah | 72 | #43 | #44 |
| District of Columbia | 13 | #44 | #43 |
| Arkansas | 43 | #45 | #151 |
| Massachusetts | 105 | #47 | #75 |
| Virginia | 116 | #48 | #86 |
| Delaware | 13 | #48 | #100 |
| Alaska | 10 | #50 | #51 |
| Michigan | 114 | #50 | #61 |
| Washington | 101 | #51 | #47 |
| West Virginia | 22 | #54 | #126 |
| Kentucky | 59 | #58 | #126 |
| Pennsylvania | 150 | #58 | #91 |
| Georgia | 122 | #59 | #126 |
| South Carolina | 58 | #61 | #125 |
| Illinois | 126 | #65 | #113 |
| Tennessee | 97 | #67 | #87 |
| North Carolina | 127 | #67 | #84 |
| Rhode Island | 11 | #68 | #94 |
| New York | 188 | #70 | #130 |
| Idaho | 25 | #74 | #33 |
| Colorado | 65 | #74 | #57 |
| Connecticut | 33 | #76 | #81 |
| Mississippi | 25 | #87 | #199 |
| Louisiana | 41 | #88 | #167 |
| Texas | 303 | #89 | #145 |
| Maryland | 46 | #91 | #117 |
| Alabama | 46 | #92 | #118 |
| Oklahoma | 37 | #94 | #85 |
| New Jersey | 68 | #109 | #152 |
| Florida | 150 | #114 | #196 |
| California | 253 | #116 | #180 |
| Oregon | 28 | #120 | #44 |
| Arizona | 43 | #145 | #153 |
| New Mexico | 10 | #148 | #193 |
| Nevada | 16 | #152 | #262 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3,601 | #63 | — | — |
| 2024 | 3,072 | #78 | — | — |
| 2023 | 2,662 | #98 | — | — |
| 2022 | 2,553 | #110 | — | — |
| 2021 | 2,693 | #102 | — | — |
| 2020 | 2,696 | #103 | — | — |
| 2019 | 2,951 | #95 | 5 | #12,522 |
| 2018 | 2,892 | #103 | — | — |
| 2017 | 3,045 | #95 | — | — |
| 2016 | 3,075 | #100 | 5 | #12,564 |
| 2015 | 3,070 | #98 | — | — |
| 2014 | 2,860 | #108 | — | — |
| 2013 | 2,508 | #131 | — | — |
| 2012 | 2,336 | #136 | — | — |
| 2011 | 2,078 | #151 | 7 | #9,814 |
| 2010 | 1,842 | #167 | — | — |
| 2009 | 1,650 | #199 | — | — |
| 2008 | 1,654 | #204 | — | — |
| 2007 | 1,555 | #225 | — | — |
| 2006 | 1,497 | #231 | 5 | #12,375 |
| 2005 | 1,332 | #246 | — | — |
| 2004 | 1,173 | #282 | — | — |
| 2003 | 1,060 | #294 | — | — |
| 2002 | 1,031 | #303 | — | — |
| 2001 | 958 | #323 | — | — |
| 2000 | 879 | #353 | — | — |
| 1999 | 794 | #370 | — | — |
| 1998 | 768 | #371 | — | — |
| 1997 | 654 | #399 | — | — |
| 1996 | 669 | #396 | — | — |
| 1995 | 662 | #397 | — | — |
| 1994 | 592 | #427 | — | — |
| 1993 | 596 | #418 | — | — |
| 1992 | 536 | #460 | — | — |
| 1991 | 528 | #464 | — | — |
| 1990 | 467 | #515 | 5 | #8,335 |
| 1989 | 427 | #536 | 6 | #7,114 |
| 1988 | 421 | #523 | — | — |
| 1987 | 406 | #513 | — | — |
| 1986 | 388 | #527 | — | — |
| 1985 | 357 | #554 | — | — |
| 1984 | 319 | #578 | — | — |
| 1983 | 310 | #577 | 5 | #6,409 |
| 1982 | 327 | #562 | — | — |
| 1981 | 321 | #579 | — | — |
| 1980 | 392 | #511 | 7 | #5,024 |
| 1979 | 342 | #547 | — | — |
| 1978 | 287 | #594 | — | — |
| 1977 | 297 | #581 | — | — |
| 1976 | 314 | #548 | — | — |
| 1975 | 337 | #522 | — | — |
| 1974 | 317 | #529 | — | — |
| 1973 | 332 | #515 | — | — |
| 1972 | 367 | #487 | — | — |
| 1971 | 339 | #540 | 5 | #5,027 |
| 1970 | 358 | #530 | — | — |
| 1969 | 417 | #471 | — | — |
| 1968 | 413 | #473 | — | — |
| 1967 | 515 | #404 | 5 | #4,058 |
| 1966 | 551 | #387 | — | — |
| 1965 | 569 | #386 | — | — |
| 1964 | 699 | #357 | — | — |
| 1963 | 750 | #345 | 5 | #4,137 |
| 1962 | 798 | #331 | — | — |
| 1961 | 878 | #314 | — | — |
| 1960 | 915 | #309 | — | — |
| 1959 | 986 | #287 | 5 | #4,081 |
| 1958 | 1,027 | #276 | — | — |
| 1957 | 1,109 | #258 | — | — |
| 1956 | 1,147 | #247 | 10 | #2,654 |
| 1955 | 1,300 | #224 | 5 | #3,968 |
| 1954 | 1,185 | #234 | — | — |
| 1953 | 1,383 | #212 | 6 | #3,486 |
| 1952 | 1,511 | #196 | — | — |
| 1951 | 1,550 | #186 | — | — |
| 1950 | 1,570 | #178 | 6 | #3,380 |
| 1949 | 1,711 | #168 | 5 | #3,773 |
| 1948 | 1,793 | #160 | 7 | #3,049 |
| 1947 | 1,935 | #150 | — | — |
| 1946 | 1,913 | #145 | 11 | #2,294 |
| 1945 | 1,800 | #136 | — | — |
| 1944 | 1,931 | #134 | 7 | #2,907 |
| 1943 | 2,083 | #133 | 14 | #1,993 |
| 1942 | 2,246 | #122 | 9 | #2,557 |
| 1941 | 2,300 | #111 | 12 | #2,102 |
| 1940 | 2,316 | #111 | 11 | #2,203 |
| 1939 | 2,451 | #103 | 16 | #1,729 |
| 1938 | 2,662 | #98 | 16 | #1,755 |
| 1937 | 2,573 | #100 | 18 | #1,643 |
| 1936 | 2,684 | #91 | 21 | #1,474 |
| 1935 | 3,067 | #81 | 14 | #1,946 |
| 1934 | 3,222 | #76 | 22 | #1,468 |
| 1933 | 3,412 | #67 | 18 | #1,654 |
| 1932 | 3,564 | #70 | 28 | #1,291 |
| 1931 | 3,899 | #61 | 29 | #1,286 |
| 1930 | 4,124 | #64 | 32 | #1,263 |
| 1929 | 4,148 | #65 | 30 | #1,299 |
| 1928 | 4,106 | #65 | 26 | #1,456 |
| 1927 | 4,365 | #63 | 21 | #1,699 |
| 1926 | 4,464 | #61 | 22 | #1,618 |
| 1925 | 4,776 | #55 | 22 | #1,638 |
| 1924 | 4,988 | #56 | 18 | #1,905 |
| 1923 | 5,134 | #49 | 15 | #2,139 |
| 1922 | 5,126 | #47 | 18 | #1,901 |
| 1921 | 5,606 | #45 | 21 | #1,714 |
| 1920 | 5,470 | #44 | 16 | #2,064 |
| 1919 | 5,404 | #43 | 17 | #1,891 |
| 1918 | 5,778 | #43 | 22 | #1,607 |
| 1917 | 5,626 | #41 | 17 | #1,831 |
| 1916 | 5,544 | #39 | 20 | #1,600 |
| 1915 | 5,285 | #38 | 20 | #1,568 |
| 1914 | 4,240 | #37 | 15 | #1,616 |
| 1913 | 3,633 | #36 | 9 | #1,969 |
| 1912 | 3,480 | #34 | 12 | #1,434 |
| 1911 | 2,691 | #33 | 11 | #1,054 |
| 1910 | 2,665 | #32 | 13 | #878 |
| 1909 | 2,403 | #32 | 12 | #851 |
| 1908 | 2,352 | #31 | 12 | #788 |
| 1907 | 2,319 | #29 | 12 | #780 |
| 1906 | 2,228 | #27 | 11 | #763 |
| 1905 | 2,397 | #22 | 8 | #940 |
| 1904 | 2,281 | #24 | 13 | #650 |
| 1903 | 2,342 | #20 | 10 | #745 |
| 1902 | 2,432 | #21 | 8 | #875 |
| 1901 | 2,319 | #18 | 16 | #490 |
| 1900 | 2,826 | #19 | 12 | #753 |
| 1899 | 2,441 | #14 | 7 | #874 |
| 1898 | 2,731 | #14 | — | — |
| 1897 | 2,454 | #15 | — | — |
| 1896 | 2,582 | #14 | 14 | #557 |
| 1895 | 2,613 | #12 | 11 | #645 |
| 1894 | 2,603 | #11 | 9 | #746 |
| 1893 | 2,532 | #11 | 9 | #713 |
| 1892 | 2,661 | #10 | 12 | #609 |
| 1891 | 2,360 | #11 | 10 | #609 |
| 1890 | 2,496 | #9 | — | — |
| 1889 | 2,319 | #10 | 9 | #684 |
| 1888 | 2,230 | #11 | 10 | #658 |
| 1887 | 1,984 | #8 | 9 | #642 |
| 1886 | 1,916 | #9 | 15 | #475 |
| 1885 | 1,910 | #7 | 6 | #850 |
| 1884 | 1,852 | #8 | 12 | #549 |
| 1883 | 1,548 | #10 | 9 | #653 |
| 1882 | 1,490 | #11 | — | — |
| 1881 | 1,242 | #11 | 5 | #889 |
| 1880 | 1,226 | #12 | 8 | #692 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).