Meaning of the nameCharles

Charles is a French and English male name, corresponding to Carlos, that comes from Germanic Karl, explained as 'free man' or simply 'man'.

Meaning

“'free man', according to Wiktionary, or 'man', according to Behind the Name”

Source: Wiktionary: Charles · Behind the Name: Charles

People (2022): 68,893
Rank in Brazil: #438
Median age: 34 years
2010 Census: 73,144; people

Charles in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Charles, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (20,051 people).

309 women 68,584 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Charles is most common

States with the highest share of people named Charles in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Amapá 0.057%
Santa Catarina 0.055%
Acre 0.055%
Espírito Santo 0.053%
Amazonas 0.048%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	10,080	0.023%
Minas Gerais	9,806	0.048%
Rio de Janeiro	6,311	0.039%
Rio Grande do Sul	5,093	0.047%
Bahia	4,756	0.034%
Santa Catarina	4,162	0.055%
Pará	3,646	0.045%
Paraná	3,250	0.028%
Pernambuco	2,574	0.028%
Goiás	2,307	0.033%
Ceará	2,173	0.025%
Maranhão	2,137	0.032%
Espírito Santo	2,015	0.053%
Amazonas	1,907	0.048%
Distrito Federal	973	0.035%
Mato Grosso	972	0.027%
Piauí	898	0.028%
Alagoas	830	0.027%
Paraíba	788	0.020%
Rondônia	713	0.045%
Rio Grande do Norte	664	0.020%
Tocantins	597	0.040%
Sergipe	559	0.025%
Mato Grosso do Sul	536	0.019%
Acre	454	0.055%
Amapá	415	0.057%
Roraima	277	0.044%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Charles

Wiktionary lists Charles in Portuguese as an unadapted loanword from French, or from English, and gives it as a doublet of Carlos. In the English entry, the form comes from Old French and Latin Carolus, reinforced by Frankish and Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz, 'free man'. Behind the Name gives the same origin in Karl, but says the word meant 'man', and records another theory, which links it to the Germanic element harjaz, 'army'. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 68,893 people named Charles, with a peak among those born in the 1980s.

Sources

Wiktionary: Charles · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
Wiktionary: Carlos · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Charles · behindthename.com · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Charles · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · usage

Questions about the name Charles

What does the name Charles mean?

Charles means “'free man', according to Wiktionary, or 'man', according to Behind the Name”, according to Wiktionary and Behind the Name.

How many people are named Charles in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 68,893 people with the first name Charles, which ranks it number 438 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Charles a boy's or a girl's name?

Charles is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 309 women and 68,584 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Charles?

Charles is a name of Germanic and French origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Charles most common?

Proportionally, in Amapá: 0.057% of the state's population is named Charles (415 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Germanic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Charles with a source. See the methodology.