Charlis
French feminine form of the masculine name Charles, meaning "free man" or "manly".
Name Census estimates that about 39 living Americans carry the first name Charlis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Charlis today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charlis births was 1946 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charlis. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Charlis is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Charlis' were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Charlis. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
39
~ 1 in 8,788,573 Americans
Peak year
1946
11 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,019
Tracked since 1920
Census
Charlis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 158 people with the first name Charlis, which placed it at #44,091 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#44,091
National first-name rank
People counted
158
158 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charlis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlis is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.6%) and Hispanic (21.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Charlis described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Charlis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.7% · 69
- Black or African American26.6% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino21.5% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 7
- Two or more races2.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Charlis
Charlis leans heavily male at 82.3% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Charlis as a male name
- Ranked #5,019 in 1971
- 5 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1927 (8 births)
Charlis as a female name
- Ranked #5,674 in 1952
- 5 female births in 1952
- Peak: 1944 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Charlis on both sides of the split. Of the 160 people counted with this name, 76 were male (47.5%) and 84 were female (52.5%).
Popularity
Charlis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charlis from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 53 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charlis by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Charlis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charlis
The name Charlis is a variant of the masculine given name Charles, which has its origins in the Germanic name Karl. The name Karl is derived from the ancient Germanic word 'karal', meaning man or husband. The name was popularized in the Middle Ages due to the fame of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 768 to 814 AD.
The name Charlis emerged as a diminutive or pet form of Charles in English-speaking countries during the 19th century. It was initially used as a nickname or shortened version of Charles, but eventually gained recognition as a distinct given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded historical figures with the name Charlis was Charlis Jansen, a Dutch mathematician and engineer who lived from 1609 to 1655. Jansen is credited with inventing the first compound microscope, contributing significantly to the field of optics.
Another notable bearer of the name Charlis was Charlis Dickens, a renowned English novelist who lived from 1812 to 1870. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the Victorian era and is famous for works such as "Oliver Twist," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Great Expectations."
In the realm of politics, Charlis de Gaulle, the former President of France from 1959 to 1969, was a prominent figure with the name Charlis. He played a crucial role in leading the French resistance during World War II and is celebrated as a national hero in France.
In the world of sports, Charlis Barkley, an American former professional basketball player who was born in 1963, is one of the most recognizable individuals with the name Charlis. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star and is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history.
Another notable bearer of the name Charlis was Charlis Darwin, the English naturalist and geologist who lived from 1809 to 1882. Darwin is best known for his groundbreaking theory of evolution by natural selection, which he presented in his seminal work "On the Origin of Species."
While the name Charlis has its roots in the Germanic language and was initially used as a diminutive of Charles, it has gained its own unique identity and has been borne by numerous notable figures throughout history across various fields, including science, literature, politics, and sports.
People
Charlis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charlis as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Charlis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charlis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charlis going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 8,788,573 US residents.
Is Charlis a common name?
We classify Charlis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charlis most popular?
The single biggest year for Charlis was 1946, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charlis is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charlis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 158 people with the name Charlis, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,091 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Charlis in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Charlis?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Charlis on both sides of the split. Of the 160 people counted with this name, 76 were male (47.5%) and 84 were female (52.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Charlis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlis is White at 43.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.6%) and Hispanic (21.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Charlis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Charlis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.7% (69 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Charlis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charlis a male name?
Yes, 82.3% of people registered as Charlis in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Charlis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charlis in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Charlis can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Charlis?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.