Claire?

[SantanaLopez]

DH really likes it, I'm not sure. We already have Frances and like Miriam, Dominic, Joseph and maybe Beatrice (expecting twins, don't know the sex).

[ChocolateWombat]

I think it is a solid, decent name. If that is the kind of name you want for your child,then go for it.
It is not for those who want trendy or unusual. I doubt it will appear in the top 100 names of 2014, but then other people have chosen names they thought were unusual and everyone else did too.
Yes there are many around in their late 30s or 40s, but I don't think it ever became like Tracey or Sharon, but was quite classic.

[Cinnamoncookie]

I'm a Claire and I hate it. Partly because so many people spell it wrongly. You've received an email from me that has my name on at least twice and you still write 'Dear Clare' ?!?!?!

[Dontgotosleep]

Cinnomon. I know what you mean about incorrect spellings. I hate it when people spell my name clair.

[butterflybuttons]

I'm a Claire and I like it - but I don't like the way nobody ever spells it right - so annoying. I totally agree with Cinnamon.

[TinyMonkey]

The Claire I know gets quite rage-y about people who spell her name Clare.

She also thinks it's dull, but that's because she was one of about 4 or 5 in her class at school, not a problem you'd have now.

[Patrickstarisabadbellend]

All Claire's are amazing and beautiful....

[TheCowThatLaughs]

"Clure" pronunciation is from the Oldham area afaik, so quite a small and specific area of the NW.

[Greenstone]

It's great. We considered it for DD1. Would be very unusual today and therefore is a really strong graceful choice IMO :)

[VeraGrant]

I think it's a gorgeous sounding name, love the fact that it's a French word (not the Clare spelling), and the fact that it can't be shortened!

Can't believe someone said it was chavvy, it's never ever been that

[HibiscusIsland]

In my high school (left sixth form in 89) Clare wasn't particularly common. There were one or two, but it was Caroline that was hugely common. One class in my year had five of them!

[HibiscusIsland]

Popular I mean. I still like the name Caroline though

[squoosh]

I've just done a quick count and I have three cousins called Claire, all 1970's girls. Couple of them may be Clares though.

[mathanxiety]

Not trendy in America right now. It had a little bit of a moment in the early 90s but that has well and truly passed. It was eclipsed by the Olivia juggernaut like pretty much every single other name, and then Ella came on the scene.

[mum9876]

I'm mid forties and so many of dh's friends wives are called Clare that I am often called Clare too - even though it's not my name.

But there are no Clares now - it would be unusual now. I quite like Clara though - sort of a modern twist on it.

[mathanxiety]

Not trendy in America right now anywhere near me

I have a cat helping with the backspace button...

(I think it's about mid point in the top 100)

[clippityclop]

Lovely. Classic.

[sausageandorangepickle]

I have 2 friends called Claire - in completely different sets of friends, and both get called 'Chocolatey' a lot. (chocolate eclair). I do think Claire is a nice name, but they both get heartily sick of the joke.

[Shodan]

sausageandorangepickle - I thought I was the only one to be called that. Never heard anyone other than my mother say it.

I've rarely had it misspelled either- most people ask how to spell it.

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

Not trendy anywhere near me in the States either. But I think it's a lovely name.

[Clarabum]

I'm a Clare and it's very 80's there were around 15 of them in my year at school. I've never met one under 20 now though. I've never met a "chavvy" Clare though. I far prefer Clara.

[NadiaWadia]

Oh right (about US). I think definitely Claire is more popular in the USA than in the UK though? It came in at no. 57 in the top 100 baby girls' names for the USA in 2013 according to this :
www.babycentre.co.uk/a25008173/top-baby-girl-names-2013 . (Most popular was Sophia).

Whereas it came nowhere on the equivalent list for the UK.

[NadiaWadia]

Whoops wrong link, hopefully this is the US one:

www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2013

[augustusglupe]

It's nice, but tbh my first thought was Gilbert O Sullivan [ confused ] but I am vair old

[Cwtchbach]

I saw an article the other day about top 10 baby names so far this year and Claire was number 10. I assumed it was an American list as I only know of one little Claire under 3 years old

[mathanxiety]

That report was based on the number of views of various names on one particular baby name site, nameberry.com, not on a list of registered names.