Explore the Family Name Claire

The meaning of Claire

1. Irish: variant of Clare. 2. Variant of Clair, an altered form of German Klare. 3. French: variant of Clair. 4. French: from the female personal name Claire (feminine form of Clair), which was popularized through the fame of St. Clare of Assisi (see Chiara).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Claire in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Claire has seen a notable increase between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Claire was the 21,998th most popular surname, but by 2010 it had moved up to rank 20,996. This represents a change of 4.55%. Over the same period, the count of individuals with the surname Claire grew from 1,099 to 1,253, an increase of 14.01%. The proportion of people named Claire per 100,000 also increased slightly, from 0.41 to 0.42.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#21,998	#20,996	4.55%
Count	1,099	1,253	14.01%
Proportion per 100k	0.41	0.42	2.44%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Claire

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that there have been shifts in the ethnic identity associated with the surname Claire between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals with this surname identified as White in both years, although the percentage decreased slightly from 77.71% to 74.94%. There were increases in the percentage of people identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander (2.82% to 3.83%) and Hispanic (8.83% to 10.93%). The percentage of people identifying as Black with this surname marginally increased from 9.01% to 9.18%. The data for those identifying as two or more races and American Indian and Alaskan Native was suppressed for privacy.

	2000	2010	Change
White	77.71%	74.94%	-3.56%
Hispanic	8.83%	10.93%	23.78%
Black	9.01%	9.18%	1.89%
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.82%	3.83%	35.82%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%