Charlize
A feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially related to French "Charles".
Name Census estimates that about 5,556 living Americans carry the first name Charlize. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charlize today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charlize births was 2004 (436 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charlize. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Charlize with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Charlize is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 61,691 Americans
Peak year
2004
436 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,437
Tracked since 1998
Census
Charlize in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,632 people with the first name Charlize, which placed it at #4,142 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
#4,142
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,632 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charlize
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlize is White at 37.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.4%). 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 Charlize 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 Charlize at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.8% · 1,753
- Hispanic or Latino31.3% · 1,451
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.4% · 484
- Black or African American10.1% · 467
- Two or more races9.0% · 417
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 60
Popularity
Charlize: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charlize from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,691 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charlize 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 Charlize during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charlizes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Charlize, while South Carolina, Nebraska, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 122 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charlize
The name Charlize is a relatively modern given name. It is believed to have originated as a French variation of the German name Lieschen, which is a diminutive form of the name Elisabeth. The name Elisabeth itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "God is abundance."
The earliest recorded use of the name Charlize dates back to the late 19th century, although it did not become widely popular until the 20th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Charlize Theron, a South African-American actress born in 1975, who rose to fame for her performances in films such as "Monster" and "Mad Max: Fury Road."
Another notable figure with the name Charlize was Charlize Roth, a German singer and songwriter who was active in the early 20th century. She was known for her work in the Berlin cabaret scene and collaborated with notable composers of the time.
In literature, the name appears in the novel "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, where one of the characters is named Charlize. While this is a work of fiction, it reflects the growing popularity of the name during the latter half of the 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with a similar name was Charlotte von Kalb, a German writer and salonnière who lived in the 18th century and was influential in the literary circles of her time. While not directly related to the name Charlize, this name shares linguistic roots and highlights the long history of similar names in the German-speaking regions.
Another historical figure with a related name was Charlotte of Prussia, a German princess who lived in the 18th century and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the Enlightenment movement. While not directly bearing the name Charlize, her name reflects the cultural and linguistic connections between these names.
Overall, the name Charlize is a relatively modern name with roots in various European linguistic traditions, particularly German and French. Its rise in popularity in the 20th century reflects changing cultural trends and the influence of notable individuals who have borne this name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Charlize
People
Charlize + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charlize 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
Charlize: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charlize?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,556 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charlize 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 61,691 US residents.
Is Charlize a common name?
We classify Charlize as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,617 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charlize most popular?
The single biggest year for Charlize was 2004, when 436 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charlize is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charlize in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,632 people with the name Charlize, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,142 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 Charlize 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 Charlize?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charlize appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,634 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Charlize?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlize is White at 37.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (31.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.4%). 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 Charlize most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Charlize in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.8% (1,753 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 Charlize in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charlize a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Charlize in the SSA data are female. 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 Charlize still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charlize 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 Charlize 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 many people are called Charlize?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.