Charlee
- Pronunciation
- [Char-lee]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Modern Form Of Charles Meaning Manly
- Origin
- English
About the Name Charlee
Charlee is a modern American spelling variant of Charlie (see separate entries on Charlie and Charles for the Old Germanic Karl etymology meaning "free man" and the Charlemagne anchor). The Char-lee spelling is essentially a 21st-century American invention, distinguishing the feminine usage from the historically masculine Charlie spelling.
Charlee has been used predominantly for girls in modern American naming, while the related Charlie has been used for both genders. The Charlee spelling specifically appeals to parents seeking a more visually distinctive feminine form. The name's American naming surge began through the 2010s and 2020s.
Charlee's American climb is recent: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 2010 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2018 and the top 300 since. The name has been used predominantly for girls but has occasional boys' usage. Notable bearers include various contemporary American actresses and influencers. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the in-built Charles-classical pedigree, the popular two-syllable -ee ending family (Charlee, Bailee, Hailee, Ainslee), and the modern visual presence. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal versatility across casual and formal registers. Common nicknames Char (the dominant short form, casual and warm), Lee (back-end shortening), and the rare Charlie (the historical original) each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Charlie, Charley, Charli, and Charlee have their own SSA tracking. International forms include the broader Charles/Charlotte/Carla family across European languages.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Charlee
US Popularity History (2006–2025)
Annual US births named Charlee by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2019 with 1,171 girls named Charlee (girl rank #280 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #417 for girls (750 US births). That's 137 places below its 2019 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Charlee Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Charlee the strongest states are West Virginia, Montana, Alabama.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | #114 | 132 |
| 2 | Montana | #134 | 53 |
| 3 | Alabama | #138 | 306 |
| 4 | North Dakota | #147 | 31 |
| 5 | South Dakota | #149 | 53 |
| 6 | Kentucky | #152 | 273 |
| 7 | Louisiana | #162 | 273 |
| 8 | Mississippi | #168 | 158 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | #172 | 208 |
| 10 | Arkansas | #172 | 161 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #597 | 556 |
| 2 | Massachusetts | #586 | 83 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #580 | 140 |
| 4 | New York | #580 | 273 |
| 5 | Illinois | #489 | 212 |
| 6 | Virginia | #483 | 159 |
| 7 | Florida | #442 | 391 |
| 8 | Connecticut | #432 | 27 |
| 9 | Arizona | #413 | 163 |
| 10 | Nevada | #399 | 60 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Charlee in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Charlee?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Charlee to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Charlee against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).