How popular is the baby name Clara in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Clara.

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Popularity of the baby name Clara


Posts that mention the name Clara

Girl names that end with an R-sound

Girl names that end with an R-sound

In the U.S., most of the names given to baby girls end with a vowel sound. And many of the remaining names end with an N-sound.

So, what about girl names that end with other sounds?

Below is a selection of girl names that end with an R-sound, regardless of last letter. The names are ordered by current popularity.

Harper
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who played the harp. Here’s the popularity graph for Harper.

Eleanor
From the Occitan name Alienor, which may mean “the other Aenor.” Here’s the popularity graph for Eleanor.

Claire
A French form of the name Clara. Here’s the popularity graph for Claire.

Skylar
Based on the Dutch surname Schuyler, meaning “scholar.” Here’s the popularity graph for Skylar.

Piper
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who played the pipe (a type of wind instrument). Here’s the popularity graph for Piper.

Juniper
From the type of tree. Here’s the popularity graph for Juniper.

Parker
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person employed as the keeper of a hunting park. Here’s the popularity graph for Parker.

Esther
A name from the Hebrew Bible that may be based on the Persian word for “star.” Here’s the popularity graph for Esther.

River
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for River.

Summer
From the season. Here’s the popularity graph for Summer.

Ember
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Ember.

Saylor
Based on the English word sailor — though it also happens to be an English surname meaning “dancer.” Here’s the popularity graph for Saylor.

Taylor
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who worked as a tailor. Here’s the popularity graph for Taylor.

Sawyer
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who sawed wood. Here’s the popularity graph for Sawyer.

Blair
From the Scottish surname, which is derived from the place name Blair, meaning “field” (often “battlefield”). Here’s the popularity graph for Blair.

Palmer
From the English surname, which originally referred to a pilgrim. Here’s the popularity graph for Palmer.

Winter
From the season. Here’s the popularity graph for Winter.

Jennifer
A Cornish form of the name Guinevere. Here’s the popularity graph for Jennifer.

Briar
From the English vocabulary word that refers to a thorny plant. Here’s the popularity graph for Briar.

Amber
The type of precious stone (which is actually fossilized tree resin). Here’s the popularity graph for Amber.

Carter
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who transported goods. Here’s the popularity graph for Carter.

Dior
From the French fashion house Dior, named for founder Christian Dior. Here’s the popularity graph for Dior.

Clover
From the type of small plant. Here’s the popularity graph for Clover.

Treasure
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Treasure.

Noor
An Arabic word meaning “light.” Here’s the popularity graph for Noor.

Kimber
A nickname for Kimberly. Here’s the popularity graph for Kimber.

Hunter
From the English and Scottish surname, which originally referred to a huntsman. Here’s the popularity graph for Hunter.

Baylor
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who delivered goods. Here’s the popularity graph for Baylor.

Denver
From the English surname, which is derived from the place name Denver, meaning “Dane’s ford.” Here’s the popularity graph for Denver.

Sapphire
From the type of precious stone (which is typically blue). Here’s the popularity graph for Sapphire.

Guinevere
Based on the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, which may mean “white phantom.” Here’s the popularity graph for Guinevere.

Chandler
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who made or sold candles. Here’s the popularity graph for Chandler.

Spencer
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who “dispensed provisions or money.” Here’s the popularity graph for Spencer.

Miller
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person who owned or operated a mill. Here’s the popularity graph for Miller.

Ryder
From the English and Irish surname, which originally referred to a horseman (though it also has several other possible derivations). Here’s the popularity graph for Ryder.

Lavender
From the type of plant that produces fragrant flowers. Here’s the popularity graph for Lavender.

Heather
From the type of flowering plant. Here’s the popularity graph for Heather.

Pepper
From the type of spice. Here’s the popularity graph for Pepper.

Jupiter
From the planet (or the Roman god). Here’s the popularity graph for Jupiter.

Adore
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Adore.

Ever
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Ever.

Amor
A Spanish and Portuguese word meaning “love.” Here’s the popularity graph for Amor.

Honor
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Honor.

Flor
A Spanish and Portuguese word meaning “flower.” Here’s the popularity graph for Flor.

Baker
From the English surname, which originally referred either to a person employed as a baker or to “the owner of a communal oven used by the whole village.” Here’s the popularity graph for Baker.

Desire
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Desire.

Star
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Star.

Jadore
From the French phrase j’adore, meaning “I adore” or “I love.” Here’s the popularity graph for Jadore.

Greer
From the Scottish surname, which is derived from the name Gregor. Here’s the popularity graph for Greer.

Cedar
From the type of tree. Here’s the popularity graph for Cedar.


Less-common girl names that end with an R-sound include Harbor, Tamar, Vesper, Pilar, Hajar, Azure, and Larimar.

Which of the above do you like most? What others can you think of?

Sources:

  • SSA
  • Behind the Name
  • Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. (Eds.) A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2022

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

The South American country of Uruguay doesn’t publish an annual list of top baby names per se, but Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC) does release a list of all the names used among people who obtained their Uruguayan identity card for the first time within a given year.

As we saw in 2021 and 2020, the DNIC rankings combine all names (male and female) together on a single list, but don’t combine different forms of the same name (e.g., Maria and María) into single entries on that list. Most notably, the rankings account for not just first-name usage, but also second-name usage (as Uruguayans are allowed to include a maximum of two given names on their identity cards).

So now that we have all that out of the way… the DNIC data reveals that the most-registered names in the country in 2022 were María and Juan.

Here are Uruguay’s top 100+ registered names of 2022:

  1. María, 1,170 babies
  2. Juan, 1,138
  3. Maria, 1,108
  4. Isabella, 885
  5. Benjamín, 780
  6. Emma, 766
  7. Mateo, 728
  8. Valentina, 660
  9. Catalina, 659
  10. Luis, 648
  11. Alejandro, 647
  12. Martina, 640
  13. Felipe, 637
  14. Carlos, 589
  15. Valentín, 568
  16. Ezequiel, 562
  17. Emilia, 559
  18. Manuel, 556
  19. Daniel, 555
  20. Lorenzo, 550
  21. Julieta, 546
  22. José, 535
  23. Gabriel, 518
  24. Jose, 517
  25. Nicolás, 491
  26. Sofía, 486
  27. Ignacio, 455
  28. Alberto, 452
  29. Santiago, 450
  30. Francisco, 442
  31. David, 438
  32. Agustín, 435
  33. Olivia, 429
  34. Josefina, 422
  35. Valentino, 416
  36. Antonio, 410 (tie)
  37. Lucas, 410 (tie)
  38. Bautista, 405
  39. Delfina, 396
  40. Lautaro, 389
  41. Benjamin, 384
  42. Eduardo, 383
  43. Belén, 378
  44. Thiago, 372
  45. Gael, 371
  46. Santino, 370
  47. Victoria, 367
  48. Javier, 365
  49. Agustina, 363
  50. Jorge, 362
  51. Emiliano, 358
  52. Dante, 357
  53. Alexander, 351
  54. Tomás, 342
  55. Paulina, 335
  56. Miguel, 334
  57. Rafael, 329
  58. Ana, 324
  59. Joaquín, 320
  60. Samuel, 315
  61. Pablo, 313
  62. Sofia, 309
  63. Pilar, 308
  64. Diego, 307
  65. Zoe, 306
  66. Alfonsina, 300
  67. Renata, 297
  68. Clara, 278 (3-way tie)
  69. Liam, 278 (3-way tie)
  70. Sebastián, 278 (3-way tie)
  71. Milagros, 276
  72. Francesca, 271
  73. Fernando, 268
  74. Emily, 265
  75. Enrique, 262
  76. Facundo, 261
  77. Federico, 260 (tie)
  78. Pedro, 260 (tie)
  79. Angel, 258
  80. Bastian, 253
  81. Bruno, 252 (tie)
  82. Martín, 252 (tie)
  83. Alejandra, 251
  84. Carolina, 249 (tie)
  85. Noah, 249 (tie)
  86. Guadalupe, 246
  87. Nicolas, 243
  88. Vicente, 240
  89. Enzo, 235
  90. Salvador, 228
  91. Sebastian, 227
  92. Juana, 225
  93. Valentin, 222
  94. Guillermo, 220
  95. Alma, 218 (tie)
  96. Emanuel, 218 (tie)
  97. Nahuel, 215
  98. Camila, 211 (tie)
  99. Elena, 211 (tie)
  100. Andres, 210
  101. Andrés, 209 (3-way tie)
  102. Benicio, 209 (3-way tie)
  103. Paz, 209 (3-way tie)
  104. Gabriela, 208
  105. Beatriz, 207
  106. Ciro, 206 (tie)
  107. Martin, 206 (tie)
  108. Maite, 203
  109. Andrea, 202
  110. Elizabeth, 200 (tie)
  111. Laura, 200 (tie)
  112. Isabel, 199 (tie)
  113. Mia, 199 (tie)
  114. Luciano, 198
  115. Ismael, 197
  116. Jazmín, 195
  117. Camilo, 194
  118. Marcelo, 192
  119. Franco, 190
  120. Agustin, 189
  121. Alfonso, 187
  122. Aitana, 186 (tie)
  123. Bianca, 186 (tie)
  124. Ramiro, 185
  125. Gustavo, 184
  126. Cataleya, 183
  127. Roberto, 178
  128. Ariel, 176
  129. Lucía, 174
  130. Micaela, 173 (tie)
  131. Ricardo, 173 (tie)

(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)

Here are a few names from lower down on the list:

  • 80 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
    • Only 35 babies were named Celeste in 2020.
  • 73 babies were named Aylen, and roughly two hundred more were given a different spelling of the name (e.g., Ayelen, Aylén, Ayelén, Aylín, Aylin). This is a Mapuche name with several possible meanings, including “ember” and “clear.”
  • 38 babies were named Coromoto, which comes from a Marian title.
  • 15 babies were named Inti, which is the Quechua word for “sun.”
  • 9 babies were named Amaru, which is the Quechua word for “snake.”
  • 8 babies were named Borja, which comes from the name of Spanish saint Francisco de Borja.
  • 7 babies were named Irupé, which is the Guaraní word for the large South American water-lily Victoria cruziana.
  • 5 babies were named Yamandú, which was the name of a historical Guarani chief.
  • 4 babies were named Chiquinquira, which comes from a Marian title.
    • Two others were named Aurora de la Chiquinquira and Leomarys de la Chiquinquira.
  • 4 babies were named Itanú, which is a Charrúa name said to mean “heartbeat of stone.”
  • 3 babies were named Guidaí, which is the Charrúa word for “moon.”
  • 3 babies were named Tacuabé, which was the name of a historical Charrúa man.
    • Following the Massacre of Salsipuedes in 1831, Tacuabé and several other Charrúa prisoners were taken to France to be put on exhibition.
  • 2 babies were named Amancay, which is a Quechua word that refers to a lily-like South American flower.
  • 2 babies were named Amapola, which means “poppy” in Spanish.
  • 2 babies were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
  • 2 babies were named Everton, which may refer to Everton F.C.
  • 2 babies were named Leunam, which is Manuel spelled backwards.
  • 2 babies were named Pérola, which means “pearl” in Portuguese.
  • 2 babies were named Uruguay.

And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the bottom of the list. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2022:

Aluminé, Balquidia, Cubillas, Danubio, Elquin, Francival, Gigiola, Haaland, Ivonilton, Juysver, Kaique, Liviesti, Magaiver, Namastée, Oscarina, Patria, Quetzal, Riccieri, Silvilex, Tarantino, Urania, Valuzia, Winifer, Xaviera, Yitnelly, Zapicán

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Aluminé – a town in Argentina
  • Cubillas – Peruvian soccer player Teófilo Cubillas
  • Dabubio – Uruguayan football club Danubio
  • Haaland – Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
    • This one debuted in the U.S. data in 2021.
  • Magaiver – TV character MacGyver
  • Riccieri – a denim brand based in Brazil
  • Tarantino – American film director Quentin Tarantino
  • Zapicán – a village in Uruguay

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

Popular baby names in Spain, 2022

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

The country of Spain, which makes up most of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula, shares land borders with France, Andorra, and Portugal.

Last year, Spain welcomed 159,649 baby girls and 169,602 baby boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Lucia and Martin (again).

Here are Spain’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Lucia, 3,539 baby girls
  2. Sofia, 2,899
  3. Martina, 2,651
  4. Valeria, 2,580
  5. Maria, 2,443
  6. Julia, 2,240
  7. Paula, 1,912
  8. Emma, 1,864
  9. Olivia, 1,862
  10. Daniela, 1,661
  11. Carla, 1,655
  12. Alma, 1,619
  13. Mia, 1,614
  14. Carmen, 1,613
  15. Vega, 1,544
  16. Lola, 1,542
  17. Lara, 1,537
  18. Sara, 1,453
  19. Alba, 1,440
  20. Jimena, 1,410
  21. Noa, 1,397
  22. Chloe, 1,391
  23. Valentina, 1,365
  24. Claudia, 1,272
  25. Aitana, 1,110
  26. Ana, 1,042 (tie)
  27. Gala, 1,042 (tie)
  28. Vera, 1,029
  29. Abril, 1,028
  30. Alejandra, 1,024
  31. Triana, 997
  32. Manuela, 985
  33. Candela, 974
  34. Laia, 970
  35. Zoe, 908
  36. Ines, 901
  37. Adriana, 895
  38. Victoria, 873
  39. Elena, 868
  40. Blanca, 859
  41. Marina, 839
  42. Carlota, 798
  43. Marta, 708
  44. Clara, 705
  45. Luna, 703
  46. Nora, 699
  47. Lia, 683
  48. Rocio, 676
  49. Ariadna, 641
  50. Irene, 618

Boy Names

  1. Martin, 3,224 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 3,132
  3. Hugo, 3,074
  4. Leo, 2,752
  5. Lucas, 2,537
  6. Manuel, 2,491
  7. Alejandro, 2,281
  8. Pablo, 2,238
  9. Daniel, 2,237
  10. Alvaro, 1,938
  11. Enzo, 1,838
  12. Adrian, 1,683
  13. Luca, 1,677
  14. Diego, 1,540
  15. Thiago, 1,529
  16. Mario, 1,497
  17. Bruno, 1,471
  18. David, 1,389
  19. Oliver, 1,380
  20. Alex, 1,317
  21. Marcos, 1,274
  22. Gonzalo, 1,272
  23. Liam, 1,256
  24. Marco, 1,230
  25. Miguel, 1,226
  26. Izan, 1,220
  27. Antonio, 1,188
  28. Javier, 1,151
  29. Nicolas, 1,150
  30. Gael, 1,109
  31. Marc, 1,040
  32. Juan, 1,036
  33. Dario, 1,009
  34. Angel, 988
  35. Carlos, 977
  36. Jose, 956
  37. Gabriel, 945
  38. Dylan, 883
  39. Rodrigo, 865
  40. Adam, 796
  41. Samuel, 791
  42. Jorge, 775
  43. Jaime, 752
  44. Eric, 741 (tie)
  45. Sergio, 741 (tie)
  46. Pau, 685
  47. Guillermo, 684
  48. Francisco, 674
  49. Hector, 668
  50. Noah, 651

Home to more than 47 million people, Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities (including two island groups) and two autonomous cities (both in North Africa).

Map of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain
Spain’s 17 autonomous communities

The most popular baby names within each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Andalusia
(17.8% of the population)
MariaManuel
Catalonia
(16.4% of pop.)
JuliaLeo
Madrid (community)
(14.3% of pop.)
LuciaMateo
Valencia (community)
(10.9% of pop.)
LuciaMateo
Galicia
(5.6% of pop.)
NoaMartin
Castile and León
(5.0% of pop.)
LuciaMartin
Basque Country
(4.6% of pop.)
AneMartin
Canary Islands
(4.6% of pop.)
ValeriaMateo
Castilla-La Mancha
(4.3% of pop.)
Lucia & Valeria (tie)Hugo
Murcia
(3.2% of pop.)
LuciaHugo
Aragon
(2.8% of pop.)
LuciaMartin
Balearic Islands
(2.5% of pop.)
MartinaMarc
Extremadura
(2.2% of pop.)
LuciaManuel
Asturias
(2.1% of pop.)
SofiaMartin
Navarre
(1.4% of pop.)
LuciaMateo
Cantabria
(1.2% of pop.)
LuciaMartin & Mateo (tie)
La Rioja
(0.7% of pop.)
LuciaMateo

And the #1 baby names within each of Spain’s two autonomous cities were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Melilla
(0.2% of pop.)
SaraMohamed & Rayan (tie)
Ceuta
(0.2% of pop.)
MariamMohamed

Finally, here’s a link to Spain’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Apellidos y nombres más frecuentes – INEbase, Estadística de nacimientos – INEbase, Population of Spain in 2023 by autonomous community – Statista, Spain – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Autonomous communities of Spain no names by Habbit under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Which girl names are the most Canadian?

Maligne Lake, Canada

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel asked a great question: “I wonder which names are the most Canadian? That is, which have the greatest popularity differentials between Canada and the US?”

In this post and the next, we’ll try to come up with lists of both the “most Canadian” and the “most American” baby names using two different methods.

First, we’ll look at the most popular names that appeared in only one set of data (either Canada or the U.S.) in 2022.

Second, we’ll look at the names that appeared in both sets of data, focusing on how proportionally popular each name was in each place. For the girl names below, I calculated the proportions by dividing each name’s U.S. usage by the total number of girls born in the U.S. last year (1,784,437) and each name’s Canadian usage by the total number of girls born Canada last year (170,916).

Top Canada-only girl names

The 2022 Canadian data included 270 girl names that were not in the U.S. data. Below are the 10+ most popular Canada-only girl names.

Number of girls (Can.)Rank (Can.)
1. Flavie184141st
2. Ophelie169153rd
3. Romane114254th
4. Lea-Rose59484th
5. Lauralie57493rd
6. Sifat47582nd
7. Morgane42649th
8. Louane41666th
9. Leane37725th
10. Megane36 (tie)740th (tie)
11. Oceanne36 (tie)740th (tie)

Most of these are French, of course, and the usage was primarily in Quebec:

  • Flavie: 182 of 184 born in Quebec
  • Ophelie: 163 of 169
  • Romane: 114 of 114 (all)
  • Lea-Rose: 54 of 59
  • Lauralie: 55 of 57
  • Morgane: 41 of 42
  • Louane: 41 of 41 (all)
  • Leane: 35 of 37
  • Megane: 35 of 36
  • Oceanne: 31 of 36

The name Sifat, on the other hand, was not used in Quebec at all.

Girl names particularly popular in Canada

Now let’s look at the more than 3,340 girl names that appeared in both sets of data. Of the girl names used more frequently in Canada than in the U.S., the 10 below had the largest pro-Canada differentials. (I added the rankings for both countries as well.)

Differential (Pro-Can.)Rank (Can.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Florence0.2994%35th622nd
2. Charlie0.2794%18th123rd
3. Alice0.2638%11th64th
4. Chloe0.2573%6th18th
5. Livia0.2446%44th890th
6. Lea0.2338%49th785th
7. Sophie0.2198%16th63rd
8. Clara0.2192%24th110th
9. Rose0.2153%28th120th
10. Romy0.1981%67th1,355th

Top U.S.-only girl names

The 2022 U.S. data included 14,319 girl names that were not in the Canadian data. Below are the 10 most popular U.S.-only girl names.

Number of girls (U.S.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Malani789395th
2. Daleyza745423rd
3. Emely701 446th
4. Fernanda688458th
5. Yaretzi641489th
6. Jimena636493rd
7. Alondra615 509th
8. Anahi533565th
9. Jayleen488607th
10. Melany473623rd

Similar to the way the Canada-only list featured names used by French speakers, this U.S.-only list includes quite a few names used by Spanish speakers.

Girl names particularly popular in the U.S.

Now back to the names that both countries had in common. Of the girl names used more frequently in the U.S. than in Canada, the 10 below had the largest pro-U.S. differentials. (And, again, I added the rankings.)

Differential (Pro-U.S.)Rank (U.S.)Rank (Can.)
1. Camila0.3533%12th163rd
2. Isabella0.2697%6th22nd
3. Gianna0.2151%22nd97th
4. Leilani0.1915%59th684th
5. Genesis0.1763%65th937th
6. Luna0.1636%10th31st
7. Caroline0.1385%77th529th
8. Nova0.1315%32nd71st
9. Harper0.1314%11th34th
10. Serenity0.1239%96th513th

Of course, this analysis is necessarily a bit lopsided: Canada has fewer people than the U.S. does, and also releases a relatively limited set of baby name data.

Still, it’s fun to see the results. :)

What are your thoughts on the names above?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Sunrise at Maligne lake 2 by Sergey Pesterev under CC BY-SA 4.0.