Clara (given name)

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Clara or Klara is a female given name. It is the feminine form of the Late Latin name Clarus which meant "clear, bright, famous". Various early male Christian saints were named Clarus; the feminine form became popular after the 13th-century Saint Clare of Assisi (called Chiara in Italian), one of the followers of Saint Francis, who renounced her privileged background and founded the order of Poor Clares.

Clare was the main English form of the name used in the Middle Ages, but the Latin spelling Clara became more popular in the 19th century.^[1]

People with this name

Ancient times

• Aemilia Clara, a Roman woman who lived in the 2nd century
• Didia Clara (born about 153), only child of the Roman Emperor Didius Julianus and Empress Manlia Scantilla

Modern times

• Clara Barton (1821–1912), pioneer American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian
• Clara Bow (1905–1965), American actress
• Clara Germana Cele, South African woman said in 1906 to have suffered demonic possession
• Clara Chung (born 1987), a Korean-American singer/guitarist also known by her stage name, Clara C
• Clara Haskil (1895–1960), a Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire.
• Clara Hughes (born 1972), Canadian athlete who has won medals in both the summer and winter Olympics.
• Clara Immerwahr (1870–1915), German chemist and first wife of Fritz Haber
• Clara (born 1986; real name Lee Seong-min), South Korean actress
• Clara Luper (1923–2011), American civil rights leader
• Clara Maniu (1842–1929), Romanian feminist
• Clara Morgane (born 1981), a French porn star and singer
• Clara Rockmore (1911–1998), Lithuanian virtuosa of the theremin
• Clara Schumann (1819–1896), German pianist

Animals with this name

• Clara the Cow, live mascot in Greek Mega Channel's entertainment show Poly tin Kyriaki (Too Much on Sunday)

Fictional characters

• Clara, protagonist in Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker
• Clara in Bob Dylan's 1975 surrealist movie Renaldo and Clara
• Clara in E. T. A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann
• Aunt Clara in the TV series Bewitched
• Princess Clara in the US animated TV series Drawn Together
• Clara Belle in the video game MySims
• Clara Clayton, wife of Doc Brown in the Back to the Future film series
• Clara Cluck, recurring character in Mickey Mouse cartoons
• Clara Durrant in Virginia Woolf's novel Jacob's Room
• Clara Oswald in the TV series Doctor Who
• María Clara de los Santos, heroine of the novel Noli Me Tangere
• Clara, the main antagonist in the 1972 movie Snoopy Come Home

See also

• Clara (disambiguation)
• Clare (given name)
• Claire (given name)

References