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The clare Surname

clare Name Meaning and History

  1. Irish and English: habitational name from Clare in Suffolk (probably named with a Celtic river name meaning ‘bright’, ‘gentle’, or ‘warm’). One of the first Normans in Ireland (1170–72) was Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, better known as ‘Strongbow’, who took his surname from his estate in Suffolk.
  2. English: habitational name from Clare in Oxfordshire, named with Old English cl?g ‘clay’ + ora ‘slope’.
  3. English: from the Middle English, Old French female personal name Cla(i)re (Latin Clara, from clarus ‘famous’), which achieved some popularity, greater on the Continent than in England, through the fame of St. Clare of Assisi. See also Sinclair.
  4. English: occupational name for a worker in clay, for example someone expert in building in wattle and daub, from Middle English clayere, an agent derivative of Old English cl?g ‘clay’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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clare Family Facts

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Distribution of clare Families in the US in 1920
Number of clare families
 98-194
 33-97		 1-32
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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The clare name in History

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