The baby name Clarice blends traditional roots with pop culture history.
Thanks to Z for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME CLARICE MEAN?
The Late Latin name Clarus came from a word meaning bright or shining, gleaming or glowing. Or famous.
Clara is the feminine form of Clarus. In Italian, Clara was Chiara. And it just so happened that an early follower of Saint Francis was Chiara Offreduccio, better known in English as Saint Clare.
The name became elaborated to Claricia and Claritia in Latin.
As the saint’s name spread across various cultures, other forms of the name Clare developed.
CLARICE ORSINI
Early in Italy’s medieval period, the powerful Orsini family emerged in Rome.
Their prestige increased during the 12th and 13th centuries. During the 1200s, Gentile Orsini married Clarice Ruffo, the daughter of another poweful family.
This appears to the be the first time the name Clarice surfaces in the family tree. But she’s not the most famous figure. That distinction belongs to Clarice Orsini, who married Lorenzo de Medici during the 15th century.
Not only does that make her a famous historical figure, it means she’s often depicted in historical fiction.
CLARISSA and CLARISSE
So the baby name Clarice emerges as Italian … but that doesn’t seem quite right. It reads French, at least to an American audience.
Let’s back up. Clare has crossed gender lines; in the medieval era, Clare was routinely used as a masculine name.
It’s a bit tangled. Clarus became Clare and Clara and Claritia and Claricia, which was simplified to Clarice. But then Latin elaborated Clarice to Clarissa.
It’s a literary darling:
- Samuel Richardonson popularized the name in his 1748 novelClarissa, about a virtuous young woman.
- In 1925, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway was another Clarissa.
More recently, Clarisse has been a fixture.
- She’s the oh-so elegant grandmother in The Princess Diaries, full name Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldi, Queen of Genovia, played by the beloved Julie Andrews.
- In the Percy Jackson universe, Clarisse LaRue is the daughter of Ares, making her yet another demigod in the long-running adventure series.
- If you’re a fan of The Gilded Age, you might know that Clarisse Livingston was a real-life debutante during the 1880s.
CHRISTMAS NAME
The baby name Clarice is also a subtle nod to the Christmas season. That’s because of the 1964 stop motion special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Originally aired on NBC in the United States, the special is shown annually. It’s the backstory of the red-nosed reindeer – how he didn’t fit in, ran away from home, and then returned to save the day with his nose so bright.
You probably know the story.
Clarice is the perfect name for Rudolph’s reindeer crush, and later his girlfriend (and in some tellings, wife). After all, Clarice means bright – just like our hero’s nose.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
The reason usage of Clarice took a nose-dive had nothing to do with stop motion reindeer.
Instead, it’s down to Thomas Harris’s novels.
Harris created the character Clarice Starling. When we first meet her, she’s an FBI trainee called in to interview notorious criminal Hannibal Lechter in hopes of catching a criminal.
In 1991, Jodie Foster played Starling, opposite Anthony Hopkins as Lechter in the first film adaptation. It was a blockbuster movie, winning five Academy Awards.
Chances are when you hear the baby name Clarice mentioned, Hopkins’ character voice echoes in your head. It’s just that famous.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME CLARICE?
The baby name Clarice enjoyed modest popularity in the early 20th century, routinely charting in the 300s during the early 1900s into the 1920s and 30s.
Clarisse always remained a less common form.
By the middle of the 20th century, it was falling in use. Clarice last charted in the US Top 1000 in 1964, with one last appearance in 1976.
And then it was gone.
If anything, Silence of the Lambs might’ve given the name the tiniest bump in use. The 2001 sequel Hannibal, with Julianne Moore stepping into the role, did boost the name slightly. A short-lived 2021 television series titled Clarice didn’t make much of a difference.
But as of 2024, the baby name Clarice was given to 60 girls. That’s the most in nearly two decades. An additional 26 were named Clarisse.
If the high-end horror film failed to truly boost the name, is it possible that sound and style will?
CHARLOTTE, CAMILA, CELESTE, and CLARICE
There’s a cluster of names that aren’t obviously related. Call them the ladylike Cs. Top Ten Charlotte, fast-rising Camila and Celeste, as well as Camille, Cecilia, and Clara, Clare, and Claire.
The baby name Clarice could fit right in, a blend of Clara and Alice, a sister for Madeline or Sophie.
Will someone reference Silence of the Lambs? Inevitably. But the character is smart, courageous, and prinicpled – a hero figure.
If you’re after a name that feels vintage, traditional, and quite overlooked, with a mix of appealing meaning and associated strength, Clarice could be exactly the right choice.
What do you think of the baby name Clarice?
