Claudia

Claudia is the feminine of Claudius, an old Roman gens name derived from claudus, lame, said to commemorate a limping ancestor with the plain directness the Republic favored. A Claudia appears in the closing greetings of Paul's second letter to Timothy, the earliest Christian woman of that name on record. It has been in steady European use ever since, especially in Italy, Germany, and the Spanish-speaking world, where model Claudia Schiffer gave the spelling a nineties gloss. Three syllables, KLOW-dee-ah. The name reads poised and Mediterranean, the sort that arrives on time, dresses a little better than required, and says exactly what it means.