first name
CHARLES
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 1,207,972 people named Charles, 79.5% reported their origin as White, 12.7% as Black and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Charles peaked in 1947, when 40,919 babies got the name.
At least 2,447,135 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Charles by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #6. The largest share of babies named Charles, 27%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Charles is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Charles has been most common in West Virginia (2.1×), Kentucky (1.7×), and District of Columbia (1.7×), and least common in Utah (0.44×).
2,322,472 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Charles
Spelled almost the same
8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Charles, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Charles ranks #526 of 156,621, with 62,686 people. See Charles as a last name
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