Charmaine
A feminine French name meaning "song of joy".
Name Census estimates that about 11,609 living Americans carry the first name Charmaine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charmaine today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charmaine births was 1952 (619 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charmaine. 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 Charmaine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,525 Americans
Peak year
1952
619 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1990 SSA rank
#6,662
Tracked since 1913
Census
Charmaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,414 people with the first name Charmaine, which placed it at #1,865 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
#1,865
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charmaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charmaine is Black at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) 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 Charmaine 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 Charmaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.4% · 7,304
- White32.1% · 4,954
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.4% · 1,600
- Two or more races4.5% · 692
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 645
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 219
Gender
Gender distribution for Charmaine
Out of the 15,395 babies given the name Charmaine since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Charmaine as a male name
- Ranked #7,319 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1975 (8 births)
Charmaine as a female name
- Ranked #6,662 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1952 (619 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charmaine appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,412 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Charmaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charmaine from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,370 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charmaine 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 Charmaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charmaines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Charmaine, while Nevada, Connecticut, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 290 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charmaine
The name Charmaine has its origins in the French language. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Charmant, which means "charming" or "delightful" in French. The name can be traced back to the Old French word "charme," which was derived from the Latin word "carma," meaning a magic spell or enchantment.
Charmaine first gained popularity as a given name in France during the Middle Ages. It was often used to describe a woman who possessed a charming or captivating personality. The earliest known record of the name Charmaine dates back to the 13th century, where it was mentioned in a French literary work.
While the name Charmaine does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been associated with various historical figures throughout the centuries. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Charmaine was Charmaine de Bourbon (1550-1627), a French noblewoman and cousin of King Henry IV of France.
In the 19th century, the name Charmaine gained wider recognition through the works of French novelist and playwright Théophile Gautier. In his novel "Le Capitaine Fracasse" (1863), one of the main characters is a young woman named Charmaine, whose charm and beauty are central to the plot.
Another famous historical figure with the name Charmaine was Charmaine Shaver (1899-1967), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1920s and 1930s. She was known for her exceptional talent and captivating performances.
In the world of literature, Charmaine Kendrick (1925-2008) was a prominent English author and journalist. She wrote several novels and non-fiction works, including biographies of famous personalities. Her writing was often praised for its charm and wit.
Charmaine Craig (born 1976) is a contemporary American writer and professor of creative writing. She has published several novels and short story collections, exploring themes of identity, culture, and human relationships. Her works have received critical acclaim and numerous awards.
Charmaine Gilchrist (1949-2019) was a Canadian singer and songwriter who gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Her powerful voice and captivating stage presence earned her a loyal following, and she was known for her ability to charm audiences with her performances.
People
Charmaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charmaine 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
Charmaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charmaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,609 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charmaine 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 29,525 US residents.
Is Charmaine a common name?
We classify Charmaine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,395 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charmaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Charmaine was 1952, when 619 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charmaine is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charmaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,414 people with the name Charmaine, or 5.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,865 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 Charmaine 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 Charmaine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charmaine appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,412 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Charmaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charmaine is Black at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.1%) 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 Charmaine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Charmaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (7,304 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 Charmaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charmaine a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Charmaine 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 Charmaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charmaine 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 Charmaine 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 have Charmaine as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.