Claire registers 80 times at rank 1358 on female pets — a clean, classic human name that has been quietly popular across English-speaking countries for decades. At this level of the registry, Claire is almost certainly a straight human-name transfer: an owner who found a good name and applied it to their dog.
A Name That Needs No Explanation
Claire comes from the Latin clarus meaning clear, bright, or famous. It's been a top-200 American girl's name consistently since the 1980s and carries zero cultural baggage that would complicate its use on a dog. Border Collies and Australian Shepherds — intelligent, bright-eyed breeds — suit the name's clarity particularly well. The full human profile is at /names/claire.
The Outlander and Pop-Culture Layer
Claire Fraser, the protagonist of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and its television adaptation, has given the name a specific literary-dramatic association for fans. For Outlander owners naming a brave, spirited dog, it's a meaningful reference. For everyone else, Claire is simply a beautiful name with no complications.
The Counter-Reading
Claire's main quality on a pet is its very human-ness — it reads as a person's name first and a dog's name second, which is either elegant or slightly surprising depending on the listener. For owners who want a name that reads as distinctly a pet name, something like Luna or Daisy is more conventional in the register.