Charlotte
Masculine · “Germanic karl”
Charlotte is given to girls far more often — 453,433 girls against 771 boys since 1880. See Charlotte as a girl name
Charles is the only major European royal name that means a commoner. Germanic karl meant a free man of the lowest rank, a peasant with land. Charlemagne carried it so far that in Slavic languages his name itself became the word for king: Czech kral, Polish krol, Russian korol.
How old is the name Charlotte?
Charlotte first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Charlotte alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 400 people named Charlotte are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Charlotte most popular?
Charlotte peaked in 1907, reaching #1345 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,565 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl to Charlotte
The story of Charlotte
Karl in Old High German meant a free man of the common sort, and the English cognate churl kept exactly that sense before it soured into rudeness. As a royal name it starts with Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, Carolus Magnus, whose empire made the name a mark of legitimacy across Europe. Its most remarkable effect is on Slavic vocabulary. The Slavs of Central Europe encountered the Frankish empire chiefly through Charlemagne, took his name as the word for a monarch, and it stayed: kral in Czech, krol in Polish, korol in Russian, kralj in Serbo-Croatian. So a Germanic word meaning peasant became, in another language family, the word for king, purely because one man wore it. The feminine Charlotte arrives much later, in seventeenth-century France, built with the diminutive suffix -otte.
Meaning
Germanic karl, a free man
Charlotte is the French feminine diminutive of Charles, from Germanic karl, a free man or peasant, the same word as English churl. The male entries in the American data most likely represent family surnames given as first names, or transcription: the sex on a Social Security application is preserved permanently and is not corrected in the published figures. The male peak is 1907, and the numbers are small.
How the name formed
- karl
- Carolus
- Charles
- Charlot
- Charlotte
Related forms: Charlotte · Karl · Carlotta
Pronouncing Charlotte
SHAR-lut
Two syllables, stress on the first. French says shar-LOT with final stress and a fuller second vowel. The final e is silent in both.
Nicknames for Charlotte
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1907
- Most boys named
- 194323 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1345reached in 1907
- Change vs 2023
- −42.9%8 in 2025, from 14
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Charlotte in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Charlotte in French — same name
- Karl in German — related form
- Carlotta in Italian — same name
Charlottes among us
people named Charlotte are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Charlotte
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Charlotte 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Charlotte beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Charlotte in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Charlie works as a short form and is fully unisex.
- The name has an exceptionally well documented history.
- Every part of its pronunciation is settled in English.
- It is read as a woman's name essentially everywhere.
- The male records are few and some are certainly clerical.
- Charles and Charlie are the male forms in ordinary use.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Charlotte to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Charlotte? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Charlotte
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Charlottes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Charlotte are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Charlotte in 2025?
- Charlotte ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Charlotte?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Charlotte — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Charlotte with classmates?
- Charlotte will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Charlotte
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Charlotte? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Charlotte and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle