Charlie

Where Charlie comes from

The dictionaries list Charlie as a given name — a unisex given name — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #21 among boys — 730 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1881
    Peak, #20
    668 babies named Charlie — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1889
    Charlie Chaplin born
    English actor and filmmaker
  4. 1920
    Charlie Parker born
    American jazz saxophonist
  5. 2025
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name.
  • A diminutive of the male given name Charles; also used as a formal given name.
  • A diminutive of the female given names Charlotte and Charlene, also used as a formal given name, although less common than the male name.
Namesakes
  • Charlie Chaplin · English actor and filmmaker, 1889–1977
  • Charlie Parker · American jazz saxophonist, 1920–1955
  • Charlie Puth · American singer, songwriter, and record producer, born 1991
  • Charlie Hunnam · British actor, born 1980
  • Charlie Cox · British actor, born 1982

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.