Charles is a boy's name of French origin meaning “free man.” In 2024 it was given to 5,593 boys in the United States.
Charles belongs to the French and English & American tradition. Its meaning — “free man” — is the sense carried by its French roots, and it is the meaning we verified against published sources for this page.
In the United States, Charles first appears in Social Security records in 1880. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #4 in 1880, and in 2024 5,593 babies received the name — 2,428,685 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the French shelf:
Charles means “free man” in its French roots. We check every meaning against published sources before it appears here.
Charles is a boy name. In 2024, 5,593 babies received the name in the US.
Charles comes from the French and English & American tradition.
Charles first appears in US records in 1880. Its best-ever ranking was #4 in 1880, and 5,593 babies were given the name in 2024.
Charles is pronounced /t͡ʃɑɹlz/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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