Charlotte

What Charlotte means

Form of Charles, meaning “free man”

form of Charles || 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, “Charlotte” (revision 94535435) and “Charles” (revision 94594314), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Charlotte?

US: Rising: up from #9 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #25 in 2015, #25 now.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 13,400 girls got the name (#2 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 120 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 189 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 109 baby girls 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 VT (35.93 per 1,000 girls), ME (28.57 per 1,000 girls), NH (21.07 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Charlotte is #2 in the US and #25 in England & Wales (2025).

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Charlotte were girls.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Charlette72 US
• Sharlotte34 US
• Charlett5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Charlotte

Girls

• Genevieve#148possibly “kin, family + woman, wife”^*
• Lucille#237Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 7,989 babies; 1,314 in 2025
• Eloise#49Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #254 in 2015, #49 in 2025. 6 letters, starting with a vowel
• Estelle#573“star”^*
• Esme#298Diminutive of Esmeralda, meaning “emerald”^*
• Josephine#53Feminine form of Joseph, meaning “(God) shall add”^*

For a brother

• Augustine#545Same root as Austin, meaning “majestic”^*
• Noel#478French, meaning “birthday of the Lord”^*
• Bo#449Swedish, from Old Norse Búi, meaning “dweller, long-time resident”^*
• Julien#709Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #709 vs #3,256 in 2025
• Joan#984“God is gracious”^*
• Avery#291Editor’s note Down from #188 in 2015 to #291 in 2025 in the US

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