Head to head · Girls' names
Charlotte vs Chloe
#2 vs #23 in 2025
Charlotte is a whisker ahead (#2 vs #23 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Charlotte is climbing the charts fast, Chloe is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Charlotte leads 5 measures of 6; Chloe leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Charlotte #92, Chloe #352 — Charlotte higher
- 1890s: Charlotte #102, Chloe #356 — Charlotte higher
- 1900s: Charlotte #106, Chloe #499 — Charlotte higher
- 1910s: Charlotte #85, Chloe #638 — Charlotte higher
- 1920s: Charlotte #77, Chloe #858 — Charlotte higher
- 1930s: Charlotte #70, Chloe #777 — Charlotte higher
- 1940s: Charlotte #59, Chloe #1168 — Charlotte higher
- 1950s: Charlotte #115, Chloe #2015 — Charlotte higher
- 1960s: Charlotte #155, Chloe #2809 — Charlotte higher
- 1970s: Charlotte #222, Chloe #1774 — Charlotte higher
- 1980s: Charlotte #290, Chloe #663 — Charlotte higher
- 1990s: Charlotte #293, Chloe #137 — Chloe higher
- 2000s: Charlotte #159, Chloe #21 — Chloe higher
- 2010s: Charlotte #15, Chloe #17 — Charlotte higher
- 2020s: Charlotte #3, Chloe #23 — Charlotte higher
Charlotte stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Charlotte has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Charlotte | Chloe |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #92 | #352 |
| 1890s | #102 | #356 |
| 1900s | #106 | #499 |
| 1910s | #85 | #638 |
| 1920s | #77 | #858 |
| 1930s | #70 | #777 |
| 1940s | #59 | #1168 |
| 1950s | #115 | #2015 |
| 1960s | #155 | #2809 |
| 1970s | #222 | #1774 |
| 1980s | #290 | #663 |
| 1990s | #293 | #137 |
| 2000s | #159 | #21 |
| 2010s | #15 | #17 |
| 2020s | #3 | #23 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Charlotte
- Canada#2
- Scotland#14
- England & Wales#23
- France#41
Chloe
- Canada#8
- England & Wales#72
- Scotland#83
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Charlotte
Free man, or free — from the Germanic root behind Charles
The root is Old High German karl, 'free man' or simply 'man'. Charlotte carries it through the French diminutive of Charles, so the sense is inherited rather than freshly coined.
Karl → Charles → Charlot → Charlotte
How it traveled
The name begins with Germanic karl, which became Karl and then Charles, borne by Frankish and later French rulers. French speakers made feminine diminutives of it — Charlot for a boy, Charlotte for a girl — and by the seventeenth century Charlotte was established in France.
Chloe
green shoot; young green growth
From Greek χλόη (khloē), the fresh green of new grass or crops. It was used as an epithet of Demeter, goddess of grain and harvest.
Χλόη (Khloē) → Chloe (Latin) → Chloe (English) → Chloé (French)
How it traveled
The name is Greek, and it kept its Greek shape all the way through. It appears in the New Testament, where Paul sends greetings involving the household of a woman named Chloe in Corinth, and it appears in Greek literature in Longus's second-century romance Daphnis and Chloe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Charlotte
SHAR-lət
Two syllables in English, stress on the first. French speakers say it closer to shar-LOT, with both syllables even and a crisper final t — worth knowing if the name will be used in both languages.
- Lottie — The long-standing English short form, itself given as an independent name in both the Victorian era and again in recent decades.
- Charlie — Informal and widely used; also reaches boys separately through Charles, so it is shared territory.
- Char — Casual, family-and-friends level, usually rhyming with 'shar' rather than 'car'.
- Lotta — Common in Scandinavian and German-speaking usage, where it also stands alone.
- Also Carlotta.
Chloe
KLOH-ee
Two syllables, with the stress on the first. The ch is a hard K, not the sound in chair. The French spelling Chloé and the older English Chloë both use their marks to signal that the final e is pronounced.
- Chlo — The everyday clipped form, used by family and friends; almost never written on anything official.
- Clo — Same short form, spelled phonetically, which sidesteps the silent h.
- Coco — An affectionate nickname rather than a derived one; it also stands alone as a name in French use.
- Chlo-Chlo — A doubled pet form used mostly within families and in early childhood.
Who has carried each name
Charlotte
Charlotte, Princess of Wales (b. 2015) — Daughter of Prince William and Princess Catherine, third in line to the British throne
Charlotte Brontë (b. 1816) — Wrote Jane Eyre
Charlotte Rampling (b. 1946) — Oscar-nominated British screen icon
Chloe
Chloe Kim (b. 2000) — Youngest woman ever to win Olympic snowboarding gold
Chloë Grace Moretz (b. 1997) — Kick-Ass and Carrie star acting since age six
Chloe Bennet (b. 1992) — Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Charlotte if you want…
- a name most people already know#2 in 2025, 13,400 babies that year
- a name that charts abroad tooCharlotte is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland, England & Wales and France
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Chloe
Choose Chloe if you want…
- a name fewer children share#23 in 2025 — chloe will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name that feels very nowChloe is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Charlotte
Strengths
- Spelled one way in English and recognized on sight; almost nobody needs it repeated or clarified.
- Several established short forms with long histories of their own — Lottie, Charlie, Char — so the child has room to choose.
- Works unchanged in French, German and Dutch, and has close cousins in Carlotta and Carlota.
To consider
- It is currently near the very top of the US charts, so a Charlotte may well share a classroom or a soccer team with another one.
- Charlie is shared with boys named Charles, which some families like and others find muddling when nicknames get used at school.
- The French and English pronunciations differ in stress and in the final consonant, worth settling early in a bilingual household.
Chloe
Strengths
- A settled, documented meaning from Greek — the green of new growth — which is a rare thing among short names.
- An unbroken written record from ancient Greek literature and the New Testament through to today's kindergartens.
- Recognized and pronounced across several languages, with only the accent mark changing between English and French.
To consider
- The spelling gets competition: Khloe, Cloe and Chloé all circulate, so expect to spell it out and to be asked whether there's an accent.
- Anyone meeting the written name cold may try a soft ch, as in chair, before being corrected. Most people only need telling once.
- It clusters strongly among children, teenagers and young adults rather than across all ages, so it reads as a name of recent generations.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Charlotte
12%chance Charlotte feels dated by 2040
Charlotte has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Chloe
40%chance Chloe feels dated by 2040
Chloe sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Charlotte and Chloe in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Charlotte and Chloe?
Put both to the vote.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- all guides
Every list here names both Charlotte and Chloe — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Charlotte or Chloe — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Charlotte or Chloe?
- Charlotte, in 2025: Charlotte ranked #2 with 13,400 babies; Chloe ranked #23 with 6,203 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Charlotte or Chloe?
- Charlotte. Over the last five years Charlotte moved up 3 places; Chloe moved up 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Charlotte or Chloe?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Charlotte and Chloe?
- About 327,000 people named Charlotte are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 248,000 people named Chloe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Charlottes or Chloes in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Charlotte. Chloe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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