Comments for CLARA:

Clara is a very sophisticated-sounding name. It simply rolls off the tongue.

-- Andrea1991  6/11/2005

I used to think Clara was an awful name. But I've come to realize it's not bad at all. I like it.

-- Anonymous User  8/2/2005

Clara actually means clear, bright.

-- rinkachic  8/4/2005

Clara is the name of the main girl in the ballet The Nutcracker.

-- miraclegirl80  10/14/2005

A famous bearer of this name was American silent film actress Clara Bow.

-- alberto  11/17/2005

Another famous historical figure to bear the name Clara is Clara Wieck Schumann, a renowned composer and pianist of the Romantic period. She was quite beautiful and married Robert Schumann, and befriended Johannes Brahms, two other prominent romantic period musicians. She was one of the few women in this field and pursued it while taking care of seven children. She was an amazing person, and the reason I started liking the name Clara so much.

-- Anonymous User  11/30/2005

My name is Clara and I think it's a cool name because it means clear, bright!

-- angel101  1/3/2006

Clara is my name, and I absolutely LOVE it! Also, I pronounce it clair-uh, FYI. I've heard it pronounced klah-ruh, and I dislike that a lot.

-- claraelizabethann  2/27/2006

My sisters name is Clara, she loves it! It is a very old fasioned name, and I have never met anyone by the name of Clara, except for my sis of course! Clara Barton started the American Red Cross.

-- Miamaya  3/2/2006

My name is Clara pronounced like Klaire-Uh and I love it so much!

-- claraannmaris  4/28/2006

This is my grandmother's name, she has never liked it and thus goes by her middle name, but I have always thought it was quite lovely.

-- kateyvic  6/28/2006

In the opera "The Light in The Piazza" Clara is the main girl who falls in love with an Italian boy named Fabrizio and whose mother tries to keep them apart.

-- Anonymous User  7/4/2006

In Germany, Klara is used more often than Clara. [noted -ed]

-- Anonymous User  7/19/2006

I have never really liked this name. I don't mind the name Claire though.

-- Anonymous User  7/24/2006

I love this name - it's old-fashioned yet isn't very popular so it could be made into something really modern and individual when teamed with another name, such as Clara-Leigh, Clara-Rose, Clara-Elle or Clara-Tilly.

-- Anonymous User  8/9/2006

I think Clara is an elegant, delicate name.

-- lezzie  8/10/2006

I don't like the name Clara because I think of Clarabell the clown or of a cow (I have a friend who named her cow Clara).

-- Anonymous User  9/18/2006

I think this is one of the most beautiful names in the world. I think it suits a little girl, but is elegant and classy enough for a woman. It is relatively uncommon and has a pretty sound - how could you not love this name? This will be my first daughter's name without a doubt!

-- The Little Hyphen  11/12/2006

I much prefer the pronunciation Klah-ruh to Klair-ah.

-- Druid  12/14/2006

Clara Petacci (Claretta Petacci) (February 28, 1912 – April 28, 1945) was a young Roman girl from an upper-class family who became Benito Mussolini's mistress. Her father had been the personal physician to the Pope. She was twenty-nine years younger than Mussolini.

When Mussolini was captured by Communist partisans in April 1945, it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to escape, but she firmly refused and instead tried to protect Mussolini with her body. The Duce was then shot immediately after her. On the following day, April 29, 1945, at the Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Mussolini and Petacci's bodies, along with four others, were hanged upside down at an Esso gas station and photographed as a crowd vented their rage upon them.

Petacci is apparently respectfully considered in Italy; without reference to politics, but only as a woman who did not abandon the man she loved in times of trouble.

-- sweetbabe  12/18/2006

Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896), wife of composer Robert Schumann, was one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era as well as a composer.

-- sweetbabe  12/18/2006

I've never heard an American say "Clara", so maybe they rhyme it with Sarah. But I've heard plenty of English (UK) people say it, plus many radio announcers introducing or referring to Dame Clara Butt, and they've all used the Continental pronunciation (ah, not air) with one exception: the parents of a child who must be in her twenties now but was a toddler when I met her parents; they explained that they had been unable to choose between Sarah and Clare when she was born, so they merged them. And this caused genuine surprise. A lot can change in twenty years, of course. I'd be interested to know!

-- Anneza  2/6/2007

I just don't like the sound of this name, reminds me of clowns and cows. Not that I don't like clowns or cows, it just this name I don't like. I much prefer Claire which is more elegant.

-- Anonymous User  3/14/2007

In Spanish this also means "clear" or "light".

-- michi_vane  5/8/2007

I think Clara was a character in the book Heidi.

-- Anonymous User  7/21/2007

Yes, Clara was a character in Heidi. It's also the name of Dean's younger sister on Gilmore Girls.

-- Evil  8/6/2007

I have also seen the name spelt "Claira".

-- CharlieRob  8/19/2007

You also have Clara Hitler, Adolf's mom. I guess the poor woman is not to blame for having such a monster of a son.
My daughter's name is Clara for no other reason that I like it. But of all the famous bearers, I choose Clara Schumann, a woman ahead of her time.

-- Anonymous User  9/21/2007

Clara del Valle Trueba is the name of a visionary/telekinetic character in Isabel Allende's "The House of the Spirits."

-- Kaia  9/23/2007

My Italian grandmother is called Clara. I think it is a lovely name.

-- Lynsey777  1/3/2008

This is my middle name, and though I don't use it much, I like it a lot. I pronounce it Clar-ah or, as other people here have been saying, Clah-ruh. 2 of my great-grandmothers had this name, one of whom was Swiss.

-- Daroga  1/30/2008

Princess Clara from Drawn Together is a famous bearer! :D

-- Jesus_Freak  2/16/2008

A beautiful name. I much perfer it to be spelled Claira, as that's kind of uncommon and looks much better on paper.

-- Anonymous User  3/9/2008

I absolutely adore the name Clara. I loved it since I was a little girl and wanted this name to be mine. :) I am from Czech Republic and the name is spelled Klara there. We named our little girl Clara, we chose spelling with C since we live in US and it also seems a bit softer to me. I also love the meaning of the name, which some of you noted already: clear, bright. My choice of pronunciation is Clar-ah. We also call our daughter Clarka or Clarinka.

-- ivi77  4/2/2008

How has anyone not mentioned Clara Bow, the original Hollywood It-Girl? I love the name Clara, but only when pronounced the European way- Clah-ra, not claire-uh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Bow

-- popsismyidol  4/26/2008

When I was younger, I thought this name was a hideous grandmother name. However, even though the Finnish equivalent Klaara certainly is old-fashioned, this name is very pretty in English, and it's pretty in other languages too, as long as the vowel sound in the first syllable is SHORT. This is very important, because otherwise it does sound grandmotherly and unattractive. I don't see why this name should sound much worse than Sara, Tara, and the awesome name Kara. It's a pretty, simple name that doesn't sound tacky, trashy, or immature.

-- slight night shiver  5/18/2008

Clara is the name Gregory Maguire used for the Cinderella figure in his novel 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister,' an adult retelling of Cinderella.

-- LittleGavroche  8/3/2008

Actor Ewan McGregor has a daughter named Clara Mathilde.

-- Lady_Skywalker  10/2/2008

I prefer the pronunciation "KLAH-rah" to "KLER-uh", but this is a lovely name nonetheless; simple yet elegant, not excessively popular, unique without the immature trendiness that seems to sell these days, and just plain lovely and dignified.

-- gaelruadh19  2/6/2009

Clara Clayton was the lady that "Doc" Emmet Brown married in Back to the Future III.

-- ICEyun  2/24/2009

Listen to the German pronunciation of Clara here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html

-- _satu_  5/11/2009

Clara is a beautiful name. Much less common than Claire, which is also pretty but Clara sounds more exotic and foreign.

-- Anonymous User  10/17/2009

Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other

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