Clair
'''Clair''' may refer to: For other uses, see below.People
Given name
Clair is a given name of French origin, derived from the Latin word clarus, meaning "clear," "bright," or "famous."[1] It emerged as a unisex name in medieval France but is more commonly used for females today, often as a variant of Claire.[2] The name evokes qualities of clarity and luminosity, and it has been adopted in English-speaking countries since the 19th century.[3] In the United States, the spelling Claire has maintained steady popularity as a feminine given name, ranking 67th in 2024 with 3,329 births, according to data from the Social Security Administration.[4] This places it among the top 100 girls' names, reflecting a resurgence since the 1980s when it briefly fell outside the top 200 before climbing back to prominence in the 2010s.[5] The spelling Clair, while historically used for both genders, is far less common in recent decades and does not rank in the SSA's top 1,000 names for 2020–2024, with usage skewed approximately 90% toward females over the past 50 years.[6] Globally, Claire remains popular in English- and French-speaking regions, often topping charts in countries like Ireland and Belgium.[7] Notable individuals with the given name Clair or its variant Claire include:- Clair Engle (1911–1964), an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from California (1943–1959) and then as a U.S. Senator (1959–1964), known for his role in water resource development and civil rights legislation despite battling a brain tumor in his final years.[8]
- Clair Bee (1896–1983), an influential American basketball coach who led [Long Island University](/page/Long Island University) to national prominence, winning two National Invitation Tournament titles (1939, 1941) and inventing the three-second rule; he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.[9]
- Claire Lee Chennault (1893–1958), a U.S. Army Air Forces general who commanded the Flying Tigers during World War II, organizing volunteer pilots to defend China against Japanese forces and later leading the China Air Task Force.[10]
- Claire Bloom (born 1931), a British actress acclaimed for her stage and screen work, including roles in films like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and A Doll's House (1973), earning BAFTA nominations and an Olivier Award.[11]
- Claire Danes (born 1979), an American actress who rose to fame with My So-Called Life (1994–1995) and won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Temple Grandin (2010) and Homeland (2011–2012), also receiving Academy Award nominations for Romeo + Juliet (1996) and The Hours (2002).[12]
- Claire Foy (born 1984), a British actress best known for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of The Crown (2016–2017), earning a Golden Globe, and for roles in Wolf Hall (2015) and The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018).[13]
- Princess Claire of Belgium (born 1974), the wife of Prince Laurent of Belgium since 2003, a British-Belgian advocate for environmental causes and former public relations consultant.[7]
Surname
Clair is a surname of French origin, derived from the Old French word clair, meaning "clear" or "bright," which itself stems from the Latin clarus signifying "illustrious" or "famous."[14] It often arose as a nickname for someone with a cheerful disposition or fair complexion, or from the medieval personal name Clair, borne by early Christian saints such as a 3rd-century bishop of Nantes and another 4th-century martyr.[15] The surname is frequently anglicized from variants like Claire or St. Clair, the latter linked to Norman place names such as Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in France.[16] Notable individuals bearing the surname Clair include:- René Clair (1898–1981), a pioneering French filmmaker renowned for blending comedy, fantasy, and social satire in silent and sound films, including À nous la liberté (1931), which influenced Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. He directed over 20 features and was elected to the Académie Française in 1960.[17]
- Maxine Clair (1939–2025), an American novelist and poet whose debut collection Rattlebone (1995) won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for fiction, depicting mid-20th-century Black life in Kansas City; she later published the novel October Suite (2001) and poetry volumes like Coping with Gravity (1990).[18]
- Cyrielle Clair (born 1955), a French actress known for roles in films such as The Professional (1981) alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo and La Femme Nikita (1990), as well as television series like Aïcha (2009–2013).[19]