The story in the numbers

208,419 girls have been named Claire in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2016, with 5,216 births — 0.29% of all girls recorded that year.

It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 44 → 67).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1999, and the 2010s alone account for 23%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 27 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 2,204 boys have also been given it, 1.0% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Claire

448

1,013

1,858

6,705

14,994

12,639

10,261

10,263

5,945

3,945

10,845

25,324

39,006

47,725

17,448

In 2016, its biggest year

Claire was the 40th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 2016 were Emma, Olivia, Ava, Sophia and Isabella. See all of 2016.

Names that rose and fell with Claire

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.