Charles
- Pronunciation
- [Char-les]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- A Man. French Variant Of Carl Adopted By The English Since Seventeenth-Century Reigns Of King Charles I And II. British Charles Prince Of Wales.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Charles
Charles descends from the Old Germanic Karl, meaning "free man" — referring specifically to a free common-born man (in contrast to a noble or a serf). The name's elevation from common-name to royal-name is owed almost entirely to one figure: Charlemagne (Latin Carolus Magnus, "Charles the Great," c. 747–814), King of the Franks and crowned Emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day 800 — founder of the Carolingian dynasty and the figure who, more than anyone else, shaped the political and cultural landscape of medieval Western Europe.
From Charlemagne forward, Charles became one of the most consistently borne royal names in European history. Holy Roman Emperors named Charles include Charles V (1500–1558, ruler of the largest European empire since Charlemagne), and English/British kings include Charles I (executed 1649 after the English Civil War), Charles II (the Restoration king), and Charles III (current British monarch, since 2022). Other notable bearers across centuries: novelist Charles Dickens, naturalist Charles Darwin, jazz innovator Charlie Parker, and silent-film comedian Charlie Chaplin.
Charles held a US top-10 boys' rank from 1880 through 1954 — over seven decades of top-tier popularity. The name's appeal is its dignified breadth: royal pedigree, religious neutrality, instantly recognizable across virtually every European language, and unusually wide range of nicknames. Common nicknames Charlie, Chuck, Chip, and Carl each carry distinct American eras and class registers; the feminine Charlotte uses the same Germanic root. International forms include Carlos (Spanish/Portuguese), Carlo (Italian), Karl (German/Scandinavian, the original Germanic), Charles (French, identical), Carolus (Latin), and the Polish Karol.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Charles
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Charles by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1947 with 40,779 boys named Charles (boy rank #9 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #48 for boys (5,898 US births). That's 39 places below its 1947 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 Charles Most Popular?
Average boy-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 boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Charles the strongest states are District of Columbia, South Carolina, Massachusetts.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | #14 | 360 |
| 2 | South Carolina | #21 | 1,183 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #22 | 1,956 |
| 4 | Alabama | #22 | 1,208 |
| 5 | Vermont | #24 | 139 |
| 6 | Minnesota | #24 | 1,357 |
| 7 | Missouri | #28 | 1,484 |
| 8 | Maine | #29 | 282 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | #29 | 321 |
| 10 | Tennessee | #32 | 1,660 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | #124 | 164 |
| 2 | Nevada | #109 | 288 |
| 3 | Arizona | #96 | 808 |
| 4 | California | #95 | 4,339 |
| 5 | North Dakota | #86 | 143 |
| 6 | Texas | #82 | 4,183 |
| 7 | Florida | #78 | 2,449 |
| 8 | Hawaii | #70 | 141 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | #70 | 565 |
| 10 | West Virginia | #65 | 292 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Charles in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlo | Manly | Male | Italian |
| Carlos | Strong | Male | French |
| Carroll | Champion | Male | Gaelic |
| Cary | From The Fortress | Male | Celtic |
| Chad | Defense | Male | Celtic |
| Charley | A Man: Variant Of Carl. | Male | English |
| Charlie | A Man: Variant Of Carl. | Male | English |
| Chas | A Man: Variant Of Carl. | Male | English |
| Chaz | A Man: Variant Of Carl. | Male | English |
| Chuck | A Man: Variant Of Carl. | Male | English |
Famous People Named Charles
12 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Charles.
- Charles Alston was an artist, sculptor, muralist, painter and teacher who enriched the culture of Harlem in New York.
- Charles Augustin De Coulomb is the physicist associated with the famous Coulomb’s Law.
- Charles Babbage — Scientist (1791)
- Charles Baudelaire was a famous French poet and art critic known for his critical reviews of the notable artists of his times.
- Charles Best was a great scientist and a renowned physiologist who is remembered for being the co-discoverer of insulin.
- Charles Boyer was a French actor best known for playing romantic roles in American films.
- Charles Bronson — Movie Actor (1921)
- Charles Brown was a renowned American blues singer who had a major influence on the development of blues music during the 1940s and 1950s.
- Charles Darwin — Scientist (1809)
- Charles Eames was a famous American designer known for his great contribution to modern architecture and furniture.
- Charles F. Kettering was an American inventor and electrical engineer who held more than 150 patents.
- Charles G. Dawes was the 30th Vice President of the United States.
Looking for names like Charles?
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 Charles to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Charles against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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