Clarence

Etymology

Originally a ducal title of the English and British royal family, from Clārensis (“from the town of Clare”), (the town of Clare, Suffolk), although it has also been associated with Italian Chiarenza, Clarentza, &c., a former fortress and settlement in the medieval Frankish Principality of Achaea in Greece.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklæɹəns/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Clarence

1. A ducal title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the English and British royal families
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Warwick. Richard, I will create thee Duke of Gloucester;
     And George, of Clarence; Warwick, as ourself,
     Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.
     Richard. Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester,
     For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous.

2. An English surname.
3. A male given name transferred from the surname.
   • 1847 William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, W. Orr July-December 1847, page 61 ( "The Aristocracy of Names"):

     There is one of the novels of Miss Edgeworth - we forget which - in which a gentleman of the name of Harvey figures as a hero. Harvey! Only fancy John, Peter, or William Harvey as the hero of a novel! But Miss Edgeworth was too well acquaintanced with the philosophy of names to commit such a blunder: she made the individual Clarence Harvey, and the name has never to this day been objected to even among the female teens.

   • 1973, Agatha Christie, Postern of Fate, page 221:

     Got rather a silly name. Like a hotel. You know, the Royal Clarence. That's his name. Clarence."

4. A placename given to towns in countries settled by the British.
   1. A place in Australia:
      1. A locality in the City of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia.
      2. The City of Clarence, a local government area in the Greater Hobart area of south-east Tasmania, Australia, named after the Duke of Clarence and a ship with that name.
   2. A settlement in north Canterbury, New Zealand, near the mouth of the Clarence River. ^[1]
   3. A place in Canada:
      1. A community of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.
      2. A community and former township in the city of Clarence-Rockland, eastern Ontario.
   4. A number of places in the United States:
      1. An unincorporated community in Button Township, Ford County, Illinois.
      2. A city in Cedar County, Iowa.
      3. A township in Barton County, Kansas
      4. A village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.
      5. A township in Calhoun County, Michigan.
      6. A minor city in Shelby County, Missouri.
      7. A town and census-designated place therein, in Erie County, New York.
      8. A census-designated place in Snow Shoe Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.
      9. A ghost town in the town of Spring Grove, Green County, Wisconsin.
5. A name given to several rivers, including one in France and others in countries settled by the British.
   1. A river in the Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France, France, a tributary of the Lys.
   2. A river in the Northern Rivers region, New South Wales, Australia, which discharges into the Coral Sea, named after the Duke of Clarence,
   3. A river in north Canterbury, New Zealand, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at Clarence.

References

Anagrams

• canceler, recancel

Etymology

From English Clarence.

Proper noun

Clarence

1. a male given name from English

Etymology

Borrowed from English Clarence.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈklaɾens/ [ˈklaː.ɾɛn̪s]
• Rhymes: -aɾens
• Syllabification: Cla‧rence

Proper noun

Clarence (Baybayin spelling ᜃ᜔ᜎᜇᜒᜈ᜔ᜐ᜔)

1. a male given name from English