Charles

What Charles means

Means “free man”

From French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Frankish and Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl.

Source: Wiktionary, “Charles” (revision 94594314), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Charles?

US: Steady: #50 in 2015, #48 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #66 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1880, when 5,348 boys got the name (#4 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 290 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 622 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,637 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (13.45 per 1,000 boys), VT (13.2 per 1,000 boys), AK (12.32 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Charles is #48 in the US and #119 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.8% of US babies named Charles were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Charles

Boys

• Roger#832“fame-spear”^*
• Derek#284Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1989, with 8,365 babies; 1,191 in 2025
• Albert#614“noble + bright, famous”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*

For a sister

• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Robin#704Diminutive of Robert, meaning “shining glory”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Charles’s. Rank is US 2025.