Chiara
Chiara is a feminine Italian name meaning "clear, bright, or shining light."
Name Census estimates that about 5,563 living Americans carry the first name Chiara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Chiara today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chiara births was 2024 (219 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chiara. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Chiara with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,613 Americans
Peak year
2024
219 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,113
Tracked since 1951
Census
Chiara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,552 people with the first name Chiara, which placed it at #3,668 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,668
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chiara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chiara is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Chiara described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Chiara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.7% · 3,536
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 995
- Two or more races7.4% · 409
- Black or African American6.5% · 362
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 227
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 23
Popularity
Chiara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chiara from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,721 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Chiara remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chiara by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Chiara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chiaras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Chiara, while Wisconsin, Utah, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 168 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chiara
Chiara is an Italian given name derived from the Late Latin word "clarus", meaning "clear", "bright", or "shining". The name has its roots in ancient Rome and the Latin language, which was spoken throughout the Roman Empire.
The name Chiara gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Italy, particularly after the life of St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), one of the first followers of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Clare founded the Order of Poor Ladies, also known as the Poor Clares, and her name became associated with purity, clarity, and devotion.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Chiara can be found in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, written in the early 14th century. In the epic poem, Dante mentions a woman named Chiara, who is believed to be a reference to St. Clare of Assisi.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Chiara. Chiara d'Assisi (1193-1253), better known as St. Clare of Assisi, was a close friend of St. Francis and the founder of the Poor Clares. Chiara Gambacorti (1370-1420) was an Italian noblewoman and the ruler of Pisa during the Renaissance period. Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) was an Italian Catholic activist and the founder of the Focolare Movement, a worldwide movement for spiritual renewal.
Other famous Chiaras include Chiara Frugoni (1940-), an Italian historian and academic; Chiara Mastroianni (1972-), a French actress and the daughter of actors Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni; and Chiara Ferragni (1987-), an Italian fashion blogger and influencer.
The name Chiara has maintained its popularity in Italy and other parts of the world, particularly among those of Italian descent. Its meaning of clarity and brightness has made it a favored choice for parents seeking a name with a positive and uplifting connotation.
People
Chiara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chiara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chiara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chiara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,563 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chiara going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 61,613 US residents.
Is Chiara a common name?
We classify Chiara as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,699 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chiara most popular?
The single biggest year for Chiara was 2024, when 219 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chiara is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chiara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,552 people with the name Chiara, or 1.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,668 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Chiara in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Chiara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chiara appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,552 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Chiara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chiara is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Chiara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chiara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (3,536 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Chiara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chiara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chiara in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Chiara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chiara in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Chiara can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Chiara?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.