Chas
A diminutive form of Charles of Germanic origin meaning "free man".
Name Census estimates that about 1,300 living Americans carry the first name Chas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chas today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chas births was 1915 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chas. 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 Chas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 263,657 Americans
Peak year
1915
99 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2018 SSA rank
#12,507
Tracked since 1880
Census
Chas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,622 people with the first name Chas, which placed it at #8,810 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
#8,810
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,622 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chas is White at 69.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Chas 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 Chas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.5% · 1,128
- Black or African American15.8% · 256
- Two or more races5.4% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 83
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 28
Gender
Gender distribution for Chas
Out of the 3,218 babies given the name Chas since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Chas as a male name
- Ranked #12,507 in 2018
- 5 male births in 2018
- Peak: 1915 (99 births)
Chas as a female name
- Ranked #13,348 in 1990
- 5 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1919 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chas leans strongly male. 1,492 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 136 female bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Chas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chas from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 581 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chas 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 Chas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Chas, while Michigan, Kentucky, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chas
The name Chas is a diminutive or shortened form of the more common name Charles, which has its origins in the Germanic languages. Charles is derived from the Old German name Karl, meaning "man" or "husband." The name gained widespread popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly after the reign of Charlemagne, the Frankish King and Holy Roman Emperor from 768 to 814 AD.
The earliest recorded use of the name Chas can be traced back to the 16th century in England. It was often used as a familiar or affectionate form of Charles, particularly among aristocratic families and the upper classes. One notable example is Chas Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who lived from 1484 to 1545 and was a close friend and brother-in-law of King Henry VIII.
In literature, the name Chas appears in various works, including "The Pickwick Papers" by Charles Dickens, where it is used as a nickname for the character Charles Augustus Muffin. William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair" also features a character named Chas Bayham, a military officer and friend of the main character, Becky Sharp.
Throughout history, several prominent individuals have borne the name Chas as a shortened version of Charles. One notable example is Chas Addams, the American cartoonist and creator of the iconic Addams Family characters, who lived from 1912 to 1988. Another is Chas Chandler, the English musician and producer who co-founded the band The Animals and later managed the career of Jimi Hendrix (1938-1996).
In the world of sports, Chas Bongard was a British gymnast who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, winning a gold medal in the team combined event. Chas Underhill was an English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire and Oxford University in the late 19th century, born in 1857 and died in 1926.
While the name Chas may have fallen out of favor in recent decades, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of historical names, reflecting the enduring influence of the Germanic roots and the cultural significance of the name Charles across various eras and regions.
People
Chas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chas 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
Chas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chas 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 263,657 US residents.
Is Chas a common name?
We classify Chas as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,218 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chas most popular?
The single biggest year for Chas was 1915, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chas is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,622 people with the name Chas, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,810 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 Chas 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 Chas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chas leans strongly male. 1,492 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 136 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Chas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chas is White at 69.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Chas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.5% (1,128 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 Chas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chas a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Chas 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 Chas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chas 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 Chas 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 Chas?
You can see how many Americans are named Chas on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.