How popular is the baby name Charlotte in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Charlotte.

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Popularity of the baby name Charlotte


Posts that mention the name Charlotte

Popular baby names in Ontario (Canada), 2015

Flag of Ontario
Flag of Ontario

According to data released yesterday by Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, the most popular baby names in the province last year were Olivia and Liam.

Here are Ontario’s official top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia
  2. Emma
  3. Charlotte
  4. Ava
  5. Sophia
  6. Emily
  7. Abigail
  8. Isabella
  9. Amelia and Mia (tie)
  10. Ella

Boy Names

  1. Liam
  2. Benjamin
  3. Noah
  4. Lucas
  5. Ethan
  6. William
  7. Nathan
  8. Logan
  9. Mason
  10. Jacob

According to the news release, “Tenley, Riaan and Eason are brand new to the list this year.” I’m pretty sure this is a reference to the top 100, not the full list, as I doubt a name like Tenley has never been used in Ontario before.

In Ontario’s provisional data for 2015, Ethan ranked 2nd, which is interesting.

Also released before 2015 was over was an alternative set of rankings that had variant spellings lumped together. In this set of rankings, the Sophia name-group and the Jackson name-group took the top spots.

Girl name-groups

  1. Sophia/Sofia/Sofiya
  2. Olivia
  3. Emma/Ema
  4. Ava/Avah
  5. Charlotte

Boy name-groups

  1. Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson/Jaxen/Jaxxon/Jaxyn
  2. Liam
  3. Lucas/Lukas
  4. Jacob/Jakob/Jaycob
  5. Ethan

Sources: Olivia is the Most Popular Baby Name in Ontario, Ontario’s Top 25 Baby Names for 2015, Sophia and Jackson are the Most Popular Baby Names in Ontario

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ontario (public domain)

California family with 22 children

Marion and Charlotte “Lottie” Story of Bakersfield, California, had at least 22 children — including five sets of twins — from 1922 to 1946. Seventeen of their kids are listed on the 1940 U.S. Census (see below).

I don’t know the names of all the Story children, but here are 20 of them: Jean, Jane, Jack, Jacqueline, June, Eileen, Clyde, Robert, James, Jeannette, Steve, Jerry, Terry (sometimes “Terrytown”), Charlotte, Scotty, Sherrie, Garry, Joanne, Frances (called Lidwina), and Monica (called Sandy).

Story family of California in 1940 U.S. census
The Story family on the 1940 U.S. Census

Charlotte Story herself was one of a dozen children, born from 1899 to 1919. Her 11 siblings were named Pearl, George, Rhea, Hazel, Fern, Ira, Myrtle, Dorothy, Helen, Russell, and Viola.

And Charlotte’s mother Elsie was one of 13 children, born from 1865 to 1892. Her 12 siblings were named Edward, Levi, William, Frank, Rosa, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret, Archibald, Gertrude, and Emma.

So here’s the question: If you had to choose all of your own children’s names from just one of the sibsets above, which set would you pick? Why?

Sources: Charlotte M Story – Find A Grave, Elsie E LaCount – Find A Grave

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Arrr! Baby names for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”

Avast! Did you know that today, September 19th, is Talk Like a Pirate Day?

“Arrr” itself doesn’t make a great name — even for pirates — but here’s the next best thing: over 130 names that feature the “arrr” sound.

Girl Names with “Arrr”

  • Araminta
  • Arcadia
  • Arden
  • Aretha
  • Aria
  • Ariana, Arianna
  • Arlene
  • Arlette
  • Arlynne
  • Artemis
  • Barbara
  • Barbie
  • Carla
  • Carlene
  • Carley
  • Carmel
  • Carmella
  • Carmen
  • Charlene
  • Charlotte
  • Charmaine
  • Darcy
  • Daria
  • Darla
  • Darlene
  • Gardenia
  • Harbor
  • Harlow
  • Harmony
  • Hildegarde
  • Karla
  • Katarina
  • Larisa, Larissa
  • Mara
  • Marcella
  • Marcia
  • Margaret
  • Margot, Margaux
  • Maria
  • Mariah
  • Mariana
  • Marie
  • Marina
  • Mariska
  • Marissa
  • Marjorie
  • Marla
  • Marlena
  • Marlene
  • Marley
  • Marnie
  • Marta
  • Martha
  • Marva
  • Martina
  • Narcissa
  • Parthenia (…Parthenope?)
  • Pilar
  • Rosario
  • Scarlett
  • Skylar
  • Starla

Boy Names with “Arrr”

  • Arcadio
  • Archer
  • Archibald
  • Archie
  • Ari
  • Arlo
  • Arnold
  • Arsenio
  • Arthur
  • Balthazar
  • Barnaby
  • Barton
  • Bernard (…Bernarr?)
  • Carl
  • Carlisle
  • Carlton
  • Carson
  • Carter
  • Carver
  • Charles
  • Clark
  • Dario
  • Darius
  • Darwin
  • Edgar
  • Edward
  • Finbar
  • Garfield
  • Gerard
  • Gunnar
  • Hardy
  • Harley
  • Harper
  • Harvey
  • Howard
  • Karl
  • Lars
  • Larson
  • Lazarus
  • Leonard
  • Marcel
  • Marcellus
  • Mario
  • Marius
  • Marc, Mark
  • Marcus, Markus
  • Marlow
  • Marshall
  • Martin, Marty
  • Marvin
  • Nazario
  • Oscar
  • Parker
  • Richard
  • Stewart, Stuart
  • Ward
  • Warner
  • Warren
  • Warrick
  • Willard
  • Yardley

Which of the Arrr-names above do you like best? Did I miss any good ones?

Update, 9/20: A few additions…

Source: How To… – International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Image: Adapted from Flag of Edward England by WarX under CC BY-SA 3.0.

[Latest update: July 2023]

Which “Toni Twin” names do you like best?

"Toni Twins" Charlotte and Antoinette Winkelmann

While looking at multiples from 1944 last month, I found sources claiming that both Mary & Marjorie Vaughan and Lois & Lucille Barnes were the “original” twins in the ads for Toni Home Permanents (tagline: “Which twin has the Toni?”).

Many sets of twins were involved in the Toni ad campaigns of the ’40s, though, so I’m not sure if any single set of twins can be called the “original” twins. For example, a November 1949 issue of LIFE included a full-page Toni ad with six sets of twins:

  • Eleanor and Jeanne Fulstone of Nevada
  • Betty and Barbara Land of Virginia
  • Barbara and Beverly Lounsbury of New Jersey
  • Joan and Jean McMillan of Texas (pictured)
  • Marjorie and Mary Vaughan of Indiana
  • Charlotte and Antoinette Winkelmann of New York

Let’s pretend you’re about to have twin girls, and you have to give them one of the name-pairs above. Which pair do you choose? Why?

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (14 Nov. 1949)