Charles

Where Charles comes from

From French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Frankish and Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl. In reference to the Ecuadorian island, a clipping of the original name King Charles's Island, granted in honor of Charles II of England.
— Wiktionary's entry for Charles
  • Germanic
  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1809
    Charles Darwin born
    English naturalist and biologist
  2. 1812
    Charles Dickens born
    English novelist and social critic
  3. 1880
    First SSA year, and the peak
    #4 among boys with 5,348 babies — the first year on record, and still its best.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Charles Darwin · English naturalist and biologist, 1809–1882
  • Charles Dickens · English novelist and social critic, 1812–1870
  • Charles de Gaulle · French general and statesman, 1890–1970
  • Charles Baudelaire · French poet and critic, 1821–1867
  • Charles III · King of the United Kingdom since 2022, born 1948

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.