Charles
Featured in baby name books
Charles comes from the Old German Karl and means “free man.” Charles is also glossed simply as “man.” Charles is a name of kings, from Charlemagne, “Charles the Great,” to the British royal line, with famous bearers like Darwin, Dickens, and de Gaulle. Charles honors tightrope walker Charles Blondin, who crossed Niagara Falls on a rope, and Charles Xavier, the X-Men’s founder Professor X.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names Book, The Best Baby Names for Boys, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Everything Baby Names Book, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Badass Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Charles in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Charles against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Charles is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Charles in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 5,898 boys were named Charles, making it the #48 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 2,434,659 boys have been named Charles, with the most (40,781) in 1947. It is most common, relative to births, in Washington, D.C., Vermont and Alaska.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Charles in other languages
- Carl Danish, Dutch, French, German, Swedish
- Karl Dutch, Estonian, German, Slovenian
- Karel Czech, Dutch, Slovenian
- Carlo Dutch, Italian
- Carlos Portuguese, Spanish
- Karol Polish, Slovak
- Carel Dutch
- Carles Catalan
- Carolus Dutch
- Charel Dutch
- Charlie English
- Chip English
- Chuck English
- Kaarle Finnish
- Karolis Lithuanian
- Károly Hungarian
- Siarl Welsh
Charles name days
- March 2 France
- November 4 France
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Charles
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Charles, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyclone Charles (Category 2) | 1978 | South Pacific | 157 km/h |
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Charles
There are 139 towns and villages with Charles in their name, in 20 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 50🇭🇹 Haiti 28🇨🇦 Canada 16🇫🇷 France 13🇯🇲 Jamaica 6🇬🇧 United Kingdom 4🇬🇵 Guadeloupe 3🇲🇶 Martinique 3
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Charles | Louisiana, 🇺🇸 United States | 76,070 | Map |
| Saint Charles | Missouri, 🇺🇸 United States | 65,794 | Map |
| Saint Charles | Maryland, 🇺🇸 United States | 36,376 | Map |
| St. Charles | Maryland, 🇺🇸 United States | 33,379 | Map |
| St. Charles | Illinois, 🇺🇸 United States | 32,974 | Map |
| Charles Village | Maryland, 🇺🇸 United States | 8,267 | Map |
| Charles City | Iowa, 🇺🇸 United States | 7,455 | Map |
| Charles Town | West Virginia, 🇺🇸 United States | 5,899 | Map |
| Charles Hill | Ghanzi, 🇧🇼 Botswana | 5,164 | Map |
| Saint Charles | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,735 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Charles
There are 157 lakes and reservoirs with Charles in their name, in 4 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 77🇨🇦 Canada 76🇦🇺 Australia 3🇳🇿 New Zealand 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Lake | Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Saskatchewan, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Saskatchewan, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Charles Lake | Saskatchewan, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Charles songs
21 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Charles in their title. The best known:
- Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire – Claude Debussy
- Charles – Keina Suda
- Charles Guiteau
- My Father Knew Charles Ives – John Adams (2003)
- Ray Charles – Chiddy Bang (2011)
- Take it Easy my Brother Charles – Jorge Ben
- Charles Anjo 45 – Sandra de Sá
- The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes – Roger Waters (2011)
- CHARLES (Parker)
- CHARLES (Sewall)
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Charles
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Charles.
Charles "Nish" Bruce
Charles A. Dinarello
Charles A. Gabriel
Charles A. Hines
See more...
Fictional characters named Charles
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Charles as a pet name
FurryName has found 184 dogs named Charles in public pet registers, making it the #890 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Golden Plains Shire (2), Victoria (2), Corangamite Shire (1). Charles as a dog name →
FurryName has found 12 cats named Charles in public pet registers, making it the #700 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Seattle (4), Vancouver (2), Tacoma (1). Charles as a cat name →
Charles products
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Charles keychain
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Charles pillow
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