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

Charlie: Boy name or girl name?

To some, Charlie is a boy name. It’s a nickname for the male name Charles.

To others, Charlie is a girl name. It’s a feminine form of Charles, just like Charlene and Charlotte are feminine forms of Charles.

How are parents actually using the name Charlie nowadays?

Well, if we look only at the spelling “Charlie,” the boys are on top. Of the 1,727 U.S. babies named Charlie last year, 1,242 (72%) were boys and 485 (28%) were girls.

But if we count all versions of the name, the girls take the lead:

Name# of Boys# of Girls
Charlie1,242485
Charlee7395
Charley90277
Charli17236
Charleigh0180
Charly5270
Charlea014
Charlye012
Charle05
Charlei05
Charliegh05
TOTAL1,408 (46%)1,684 (54%)

In England and Wales, where Charlie (ranked 7th) is so popular that it beats Charles (ranked 58th) by over 4,000 babies, Charlie is still mainly a boy name:

Name# of Boys# of Girls
Charlie5,409208
Charley102164
Charlee827
Charli426
Charleigh018
Charly712
Charlea03
TOTAL5,530 (92%)458 (8%)

This makes me think Charlie could be headed the way of Ashley (i.e. becoming feminine in the States, remaining masculine in the UK).

To you, is Charlie a girl name or a boy name? (Or is it a unisex name?) Please also mention where you live–it’ll be interesting to see if/how responses differ based on location.

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2008

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Ready for some rankings?

Here are England and Wales’ top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2008:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 5,325 baby girls
  2. Ruby, 4,931
  3. Emily, 4,881
  4. Grace, 4,775
  5. Jessica, 4,672
  6. Chloe, 4,605
  7. Sophie, 4,380
  8. Lily, 4,047
  9. Amelia, 3,440
  10. Evie, 3,281
  11. Mia, 3,121
  12. Ella, 3,042
  13. Charlotte, 2,939
  14. Lucy, 2,876
  15. Megan, 2,515
  16. Ellie, 2,505
  17. Isabelle, 2,460
  18. Isabella, 2,424
  19. Hannah, 2,335
  20. Katie, 2,324

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 8,010 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 7,417
  3. Thomas, 6,062
  4. Harry, 6,008
  5. Joshua, 5,716
  6. Alfie, 5,566
  7. Charlie, 5,291
  8. Daniel, 5,191
  9. James, 5,170
  10. William, 5,169
  11. Samuel, 4,624
  12. George, 4,214
  13. Joseph, 3,764
  14. Lewis, 3,482
  15. Ethan, 3,451
  16. Mohammed, 3,442
  17. Dylan, 3,373
  18. Benjamin, 3,275
  19. Alexander, 3,215
  20. Jacob, 3,127

Intriguingly, the name Honey ranked 190th on the girls’ list. A whopping 279 baby girls got the name. In contrast, just 90 U.S. baby girls were named Honey that year, and the name has never once cracked the U.S. top 1,000. I wonder what accounts for the relative popularity of Honey overseas.

Finally, here are some of the names that were used less often in 2008…

Uncommon Girl NamesUncommon Boy Names
Bluebell (20 baby girls), Primrose (17), Temperance (13), Breeze (11), Cleopatra (11), Sorrel (11), Tigerlily (9), Tirion (9), Comfort (8), Peaches (8), Pebbles (8), Beyonce (7), Miami (7), Zinnia (7), Godiva (6), Mercades (5), Panashe (5), Tulip (5), Wednesday (5), Magenta (4), Boadicea (3), Cayenne (3), Kimora-Lee (3), Plum (3), Rejoice (3)Spike (23 baby boys), Willoughby (22), Ziggy (20), Ptolemy (19), Zidane (13), Zinedine (12), Kal-El (10), Hendrix (9), Humphrey (8), Elan (6), Gruff (6), Legend (6), Achilles (5), Amen (5), Bright (5), Jesse-James (5), Tennyson (5), Darlington (4), James-Dean (4), Courage (3), Freedom (3), Messiah (3), Remus (3), Riquelme (3), Seven (3)

What are your thoughts on these rankings/names?

Sources: Office for National Statistics, England & Wales Baby Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

How did Chemmy Alcott get her name?

British alpine skier Chemmy Alcott
Chemmy Alcott

Olympic skier Chimene “Chemmy” Alcott was born in London in 1982. (The ch in “Chimene” is pronounced like an sh, as in Charlotte.)

Chemmy told the story of her unusual first name to The Independent back in 2006. Here’s what she said:

My mother is tall with long dark hair, green eyes, very chiselled features, and everyone used to say that she looked like Sophia Loren. So she thought that maybe her daughter would, too, and I was named Chimene after the character Sophia Loren played in El Cid. That’s where it goes wrong. I’m blonde, kind of a bit on the rounder side, and I have blue eyes. I look nothing like Sophia Loren. But I like my name. I call myself Chemmy because people have trouble with Chimene, but maybe later in life it will, like, suit me more. I feel sorry for my mother. She used to teach at Lucy Clayton’s finishing school, and thought she’d have this girly girl. Instead, she gets a ski-racing adrenaline junkie.

Chemmy is currently competing at the Winter Games in Vancouver. I believe she has one or two more events to go, so you might still be able to catch her on TV.

Source: “Countdown to the Winter Olympics: Chemmy Alcott: ‘Every race I’m in I seem to make history’.” Independent 10 Feb. 2006.
Image: Adapted from Chemmy Alcott at the London Youth Games by London Youth Games Ltd under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Most popular baby names in various locations, 2009

Here are some of the most popular baby names of 2009 in various places in the U.S. and elsewhere. I’ll add to this list as I spot other articles and news releases. In the meanwhile, if you see something that I’ve missed, please comment or e-mail me (with the source).

LocationGirl nameBoy name
Alberta, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Australian Capital Territory (source)OliviaWilliam
Arizona, USA (source)IsabellaJacob
British Columbia, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Chile (source)MartinaBenjamín
Derry, Northern Ireland, UK (source)Ava & Ellie (tie)Matthew
Evansville, IN, USA (source)OliviaAidan
Germany (source)MarieMaximilian
Knox County, IL, USA (source)AddisonLogan
Macomb County, MI, USA (source)AvaAnthony
Malta (post)Maria/Mariah/MarieLuke/Luca
Manitoba, Canada (source)AvaLiam
Nebraska, USA (source)AddisonAlexander
New South Wales, Australia (source)IsabellaWilliam
New Zealand (source)SophieJack
Newcastle, England, UK (source)LexiOliver
Northern Territory, Australia (source)IsabellaJack
Peterborough, England, UK (source)SophieMohammed
Oakland County, MI, USA (source)IsabellaJack
Quebec, Canada (source)LéaWilliam
Queensland, Australia (source)ChloeWilliam
San Mateo County, CA, USA (source)SophiaAlexander
Saskatchewan, Canada (source)EmmaEthan
Scotland, UK (source)SophieJack
Sheffield, England, UK (source)ChloeHarry
South Australia, Australia (source)CharlotteJack
Sweden (source)AliceLucas
Tasmania, Australia (source)Ruby & Charlotte (tie)Oliver
Tennessee, USA (source)EmmaWilliam
The Netherlands (source)EmmaDaan
United States (source)IsabellaJacob
Victoria, Australia (source)OliviaWilliam
Wyoming, USA (source)MadisonAiden

P.S. Some of the names above actually represent several variants of the name.