Charles
Charles is ranked 51st among boys in 2024 (5,593 births). Its best rank was 4th, in 1880, 1883.
- Rank in 2024
- #51up 3 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 5,5930.33% of boys
- Peak year
- 194740,779 births
- Best rank
- #4first in 1880
- Since 1880
- 2,441,151people given the name
The story in the numbers
2,428,685 boys have been named Charles in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 40,779 births — 2.2% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 51 → 51).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1948, and the 1940s alone account for 15%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 145 of them in the top 100 and 75 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 12,466 girls have also been given it, 0.51% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Charles | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 46,656 | |
| 1890s | 36,848 | |
| 1900s | 36,184 | |
| 1910s | 173,534 | |
| 1920s | 298,031 | |
| 1930s | 303,215 | |
| 1940s | 361,760 | |
| 1950s | 361,178 | |
| 1960s | 249,388 | |
| 1970s | 163,030 | |
| 1980s | 131,905 | |
| 1990s | 92,433 | |
| 2000s | 75,331 | |
| 2010s | 70,004 | |
| 2020s | 29,188 |
In 1947, its biggest year
Charles was the 9th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1947 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1947.
Names that rose and fell with Charles
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Williampeak 1947
- Johnpeak 1947
- Frederickpeak 1951
- Edwardpeak 1924
- Willampeak 1959
- Harveypeak 1921
- Shermanpeak 1950
- Dudleypeak 1931
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.