Boy · Germanic, through Latin and French
Charles
Say it: CHARLZ
Meaning
From Latin Carolus, from Germanic karl 'man, free man'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Charlemagne made it a royal name across Europe; the Stuart kings made it common in Britain from the 17th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 2,418,011 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1880, about 1 in 21 boys
- 6,199 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Charlie, Chuck
| German | Karl |
|---|---|
| French | Charles |
| Italian | Carlo |
| Spanish | Carlos |
| Dutch | Karel |
| Polish | Karol |
| Latin | Carolus |
Famous bearers
- Charlemagne (Charles the Great), Frankish emperor
- Charles Darwin, naturalist
- Charles Dickens, novelist
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.