Clair
A surname usually tied to places named Saint-Clair in France, ultimately from Latin for “bright” or “famous.”
The #7,292 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,544 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Clair is most often explained as a French locational surname from one of several places called Saint-Clair, especially in Normandy. The place-name itself comes from Latin clarus, meaning “bright,” “clear,” or by extension “famous, illustrious.” In older surname records, Clair often appears as a shortened or altered form of Saint Clair / Sinclair.
History
Older surname dictionaries connect the name with Norman place-names and with the medieval family De Sancto Claro. In Scotland, the surname is especially associated with the noble Sinclair or St. Clair line, traditionally traced to a Sir William St. Clair connected with Rosslyn. The form Clair may also appear as an anglicized or shortened spelling of Saint Clair.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century writers sometimes treated Sinclair as just a phonetic spelling of Saint Clair, showing how strongly the two forms were linked in surname history.
From the historical record
“called St. Aubin. ST. CLAIR (Fr.-Lat) Bel. to St. Clair (France). Clair = Illustrious [Lat. clar-us, bright, illustrious] There are villages called St. Clair m the”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)