Clare vs. Claire

cbl709

So I think we may be getting closer on Clare. I want to spell it Clare like the county in Ireland but I believe most spellings are Claire.... 

Just wanted to get thoughts but Clare is a legitimate alternate spelling not made up so i think it's ok... 

Scarlett&Gatsby

They're equally correct. The Clare I know spells it this way.

diamondduck13

Both are legit. The two I've personally known are Claire, as is the store and Claire Danes - in other words, all my personal primary associations. So Clare always feels incomplete or misspelled to me. But again, Clare is legit, just less familiar to me (and maybe most?)

mkbland

Either way is fine. You will always have to spell out Clare though and people will still get it wrong. If you don't mind that then you should spell it Clare if that's what you prefer.

orangehills

Either way is fine, but Claire is more common so you probably won't get as many misspellings with this version

queenbone

For personal reasons I would use the Clare spelling, like the saint. (The tie in with the county helps too.)

dreemkin84

Team Claire.

queenbone

MosyMama said:

I could be wrong, especially given the current non-rules re: masculine and feminine names, but I thought Claire was the feminine spelling and Clare was masculine...? I know that Clare isn't used much on guys these days, but I know 2 men named Clare.

Clare is the English version and Claire is the French. Both come from Clara.

dreemkin84

queenbone said:

MosyMama said:

I could be wrong, especially given the current non-rules re: masculine and feminine names, but I thought Claire was the feminine spelling and Clare was masculine...? I know that Clare isn't used much on guys these days, but I know 2 men named Clare.

Clare is the English version and Claire is the French. Both come from Clara.

Clare is a diminutive of Clarence too.

cnomack

I think that both are correct.  I know a Clare who spells it that way after the county in Ireland.  I personally prefer Claire.  It's on my list for girl's names! 

crystaelizabeth

I know 7 little girls named Claire/Clare that are under the age of one.

5 are spelled "Claire" and 2 are "Clare"

I personally prefer the "Claire" spelling, but both are fine.

lilies&orchids

MosyMama said:

I could be wrong, especially given the current non-rules re: masculine and feminine names, but I thought Claire was the feminine spelling and Clare was masculine...? I know that Clare isn't used much on guys these days, but I know 2 men named Clare.

Although I don't know any men named Clare, I feel this way, too. I prefer Claire.

cbl709

I did read on a site last night that Clare was used as masculine form years ago but it hasn't really been used as a male name recently.  When I hear it, I think it's overwhelmingly feminine 

My rationale for the spelling is that Clare is the county in Ireland where my husbands family is from and my grandmother is also Irish so I like that association.  We plan to use Eileen as the middle name so the Irish tie in is nice.  

There is also a St. Clare (woman)  

Thanks for the input though I wanted to see the opinions on alt spellings....and OMG didn't realize it was that popular... 7 Claire / Clares under 1! 

I'm not totally bothered by the popularity though

Also...DS is named Leo so I think they do sound nice together too!

MMason12

Either way is fine.  If I were using this name - I would pick the spelling Clair. 

macska3

If I heard someone calling out the name Claire/Clare, I'd assume the spelling was Claire.

mrs mosby

DDs middle name is Clare. But if we would have used it as a first name I would've used the Claire spelling since it is more common.

MelissaRae1525

I like Claire and I think it looks more complete. Clare looks like a NN for Clarence

KellyAnn911

Claire.  It looks more feminine than Clare.

akaMrsL

Claire is more common. We named one of our twins Claire. The inspiration was also Clare County but I preferred it with"ai". Our other twin is Erin. I'm glad I went with Claire because whenever they look for their names on things (cups, keychain etc) they are able to find their spelling.

Mego04

I like it spelled Claire, it looks more feminine to me

Pepper6

I don't know why, but when I see Clare, I want to pronounce it like cl-are, not cl-air.  I prefer Claire, but if you want to use the other spelling for sentimental reasons, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  She may need to correct people here and there, but overall, I don't think it will be a big deal.