Charlene

Where Charlene comes from

A feminine form of Charles coined in the nineteenth century. Compare Marlene, Helene and Magdalene for the suffix.
— Wiktionary's entry for Charlene
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1888
    First appearance
    #1,276 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1949
    Peak, #100
    3,541 babies named Charlene — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1958
    Charlene Tilton born
    American actress
  4. 1971
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #177.
  5. 1982
    Charlene Choi born
    Hong Kong actress and singer
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from the Germanic languages; most used in the U.S. in the 1940s.
Namesakes
  • Charlene Choi · Hong Kong actress and singer, born 1982
  • Charlene Tilton · American actress, born 1958
  • Charlene Holt · American actress, 1928–1996
  • Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken · British+Dutch businesswoman, heiress (Heineken International) and billionaire, born 1954
  • Charlene · American singer, born 1950

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.