Hey everyone,
I’m loving [name]Clara[/name] ([name]Claire[/name]-uh), and I understand everyone has their preferred pronounciations, but is there anywhere that I can find out the original pronounciation?
All I have found is that it is a variant of [name]Clare[/name] and a nickname for [name]Clarissa[/name].
It seems to me that that [name]Claire[/name]-uh would come from [name]Clare[/name] and klah-rah would come from [name]Clarissa[/name], but I would like to know for sure if there is an original pronounciation and from which country?
Can anyone help?
As far as I know the original [name]German[/name] is ‘KLAH-ra’.
I’ve always thought it was KLAH-ra. I didn’t even know people said [name]Claire[/name]-a until I started using this website!
It’s KLAH-rah. It comes from the Latin word clarus (KLAH-ruhs)
Yep, KLAH-ra - which is how people say it here. I didn’t know for a long time that people say it like claire+a, although that does sound very pretty.
Exactly this. I much prefer KLAH-ra, though that might be because I’m not massively keen on [name]Claire[/name] as a name anyway.
If you watch [name]Doctor[/name] Who, the new asssistant’s name is [name]Clara[/name] pn KLAH-ra. That’s the common way it’s said in the UK, at least, and I believe the [name]German[/name] way is much the same.
I’m on the “KLAH-ra” train. I think it’s gorgeous!
My grandmother is [name]Clara[/name] - pronounced [name]Claire[/name]-uh. BTW - she is American but of [name]German[/name] descent, both of my great grandparents were from Germany.
You guys obviously are not from the south! It is only [name]Claire[/name]-uh here. I have only heard Klah ra on german or European women. My little girl is [name]Clara[/name] (prn as it should be [name]Claire[/name] uh). LOL.
I’d pronounce it KLAH-ra. It’s close to the Scandinavian prn too =)
I pronounce it [name]Claire[/name]-uh… and I have never heard it pronounced KLAH-ra. ever. Not even when it was a nn for [name]Clarissa[/name].
Well, in [name]California[/name], we have a city, county, river and university named [name]Santa[/name] [name]Clara[/name]. Technically, it should be pronounced with the correct Spanish roots (klah-ra), but most say [name]Claire[/name]-uh.
Should be?
It’s KLAH-rah.
I don’t like to hear it pronounced KLAIR-uh, in fact I don’t think it sounds right as KLAIR-uh.
I guess it’s Klah-rah?
I personally prefer that pronunciation, although in the US [name]Clara[/name] would almost always be pronounced [name]Clair[/name]-uh.
KLAH-ruh is the original. [name]CLAIRE[/name]-ruh is ridiculous. It’s a [name]German[/name] name, I believe.
Vocaroo | Online voice recorder This is how I would instinctively pronounce it, and how I believe everyone here in [name]England[/name] would pronounce it {that’s also how it’s pronounced on [name]Doctor[/name] Who - the new companion’s name is [name]Clara[/name]}
The Spanish pronunciation would klah-rah. (like raw with a K, just a bit softer) I have heard kla-rah (like the a in apple with a k). I have never heard claire-ah
If I am wrong please correct me, but from what I have read [name]Clara[/name] is a Latin feminine adjective for clear, bright, renowned or famous. Clarus would be the masculine version. The Latin pronunciation is KLAH-ra. Which I believe makes it the original pronunciation.
Where I live in [name]Ontario[/name], English speakers here mostly pronounce it “[name]CLAIR[/name]-ah” and that is the way I pronounce it. French speakers pronounce it “KLAH-ra”.
I am under the impression that “[name]CLAIR[/name]-ah” would be an accepted pronunciation in [name]North[/name] [name]America[/name], but KLAH-ra seems to be the most widely accepted pronunciation world wide.
This kind of makes me sad because [name]Clara[/name] is one of my favorite names, but I prefer the [name]CLAIR[/name]-ah pronunciation.
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[name]Just[/name] a touch of humor here 
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I love the name [name]Clara[/name] and pronounce it KLAH-rah too. Oddly enough though, I know a [name]Clara[/name] who is in some of my uni classes. She gets KLAH-rah, but I’ve heard one of her friends pronounce it KLAIR-ah on more than one occasion. It seems weird that she would pronounce the name differently to everyone else, and tbh, if it were my name it would probably annoy me.