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Original poster

Clara?

42 replies

FlyingMonkeys · 19/12/2018 05:47

Dd is currently 10wks ( age 20 so I'm slightly less than enthused but happy for her non the less). She has a current track record for horrific names (for pets!), but I feel like I could get behind this for a girl... thoughts please?

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Original poster
FlyingMonkeys · 21/12/2018 02:56

Thanks folks I'll feed all that back to her (I did check it was okay to poll the name online). It's interesting the pronunciation sparked a bit of a debate (slightly controversial perhaps? 🙄).

OP posts:
Fairypiggy · 20/12/2018 07:07

I like it. It is getting more popular now, it was in the top 100 baby names last year.

Happilyacceptingcookies · 20/12/2018 07:00

picklemethis that is interesting, I'm so out of the TV character loop!

Pemba · 19/12/2018 19:31

Blueskies'
no it isn't 'like saying Freda should be pronounced Fred-a'. That would be a made up pronunciation. With Clara there are at least two pronunciations, clair-a is the old English one. Why is this so hard to understand? Some names have more than one pronunciation, each equally valid. Like 'Eva' is pronounced eev-a in English speaking countries, but the same as 'Ava' in Spanish speaking countries. And I hate to break it to you, but 'Sara' can either be pronounced 'Sah-ra' or Saira the same as Sarah. But you've probably never heard of that either.

FiveNightsAtMummys · 19/12/2018 18:22

I know a few babies called Clara is quite popular at the min

blueskiesandforests · 19/12/2018 18:21

Claire is fine, Sarah is fine, obviously both a bit dated at the moment as typically 70s names. Claire-a is like saying Freda should be pronounced Fred-a instead of Free-da. Clara isn't Claire with an a on the end, just like Sarah isn't Sara- a.

Downeyhouse · 19/12/2018 17:28

This was my favorite girl’s name - never got to use it as ended up having 2 boys 😀

Beautiful, classic and not too many of them around.

Greyhound22 · 19/12/2018 17:24

It's beautiful. I would have loved it if I had a girl (plus I went to see the Nutcracker yesterday so I was thinking only then what a lovely name it was)

Pemba · 19/12/2018 17:07

blueskies
'I've never heard it pronounced Claire-a though, that's horrible and makes my toes squirm. ' Yes that is a ridiculous and OTT comment. What on earth is 'horrible' about it? It sounds more like Claire/Clare. Do you also hate the name Claire? And the name Sarah which has the same vowel sound?

More reasonably, I don't 'hate' the clah-ra pronunciation, as I also like Lara etc, I just prefer the Claira way. I remember my great aunt (who was born, also over 100 years ago, in England when it was the standard pronunciation, Clara in the Heidi books was German and actually in the original books spelt Klara, spelling was anglicised in later editions I think) , and am irritated at the ignorant comments you always get. Same kind of thing happens with Aaron, people start denying it was ever pronounced other than 'aron'. They seem proud of their ignorance. Same thing will happen with Alicia I suspect.

LegArmpits · 19/12/2018 17:06

I'm a Claire-a. Sorry about your toes 😂

tinselduck · 19/12/2018 17:02

Love it

darceybussell · 19/12/2018 17:01

It's the name of the girl in the ballet the nutcracker - v classy in my opinion! Smile

Longdistance · 19/12/2018 16:49

Cracking name.

leopardisaneutral · 19/12/2018 16:49

My DD is called Clara. It’s a beautiful name😊

ThePeppermintMonkey · 19/12/2018 16:47

It's lovely.

SmiledWithTheRisingSun · 19/12/2018 16:45

Love it.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 19/12/2018 16:43

We're Irish, but pronounce it Clar-a. My girl is 8 now.

mogtheexcellent · 19/12/2018 16:37

I love it. The Clara i know is Irish and pronounced it claire-a.

PickleMeThis · 19/12/2018 16:31

@Happilyacceptingcookies dr who has a lot to answer for. The rise in popularity of Rose, Martha, Amelia, Rory and Clara can all be sourced back to when the companion with that name was in the show!

TheDuchessofDukeStreet · 19/12/2018 15:50

It’s a lovely name, like the little girl in the Heidi books who Heidi goes to live with in Frankfurt!

blueskiesandforests · 19/12/2018 15:46

*squirm not skirmish - it would be ridiculous to have skirmishing toes Grin

blueskiesandforests · 19/12/2018 15:45

Pemba it's no more ridiculous for me to say Claire-a makes my toes skirmish and is horrible than for you to say it's nice - it's a personal opinion.

Neither is it ridiculous for me to state I've never heard anyone call anyone else Claire - a.

Surely most British people first encountered the name Clara via the Heidi stories, which have been popular for over 100 years.

ZebraKid71 · 19/12/2018 15:24

I like it, it's quite popular now which out me off it for dd1, but it's a really lovely name.

Pemba · 19/12/2018 15:20

Claira pronunciation IS nicer though, and softer. I also had a great aunt named this. It is the traditional English pronunciation. Blueskys comments are ridiculous.

The Clah-ra pronunciation as in Doctor Who is continental. But seems to be now the most popular, the other is becoming forgotten and you get ignorant comments. I think they still often use 'claira' in the USA though.

starkid · 19/12/2018 15:15

Clara is lovely and I like her pronuciation :)

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