Chaz
A diminutive form of the name Charles, originally meaning "free man" or "petitioner".
Name Census estimates that about 9,793 living Americans carry the first name Chaz. It is a predominantly male name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Chaz today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chaz births was 1988 (538 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chaz. 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 Chaz with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Chaz is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 165 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
9.8K
~ 1 in 35,000 Americans
Peak year
1988
538 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,792
Tracked since 1974
Census
Chaz in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,456 people with the first name Chaz, which placed it at #2,758 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
#2,758
National first-name rank
People counted
8.5K
8,456 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chaz
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaz is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Chaz 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 Chaz at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.4% · 4,259
- Black or African American29.7% · 2,515
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 729
- Two or more races7.5% · 638
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 190
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 125
Gender
Gender distribution for Chaz
Chaz leans heavily male at 98.4% of total registrations, but 165 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Chaz as a male name
- Ranked #2,792 in 2024
- 46 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (526 births)
Chaz as a female name
- Ranked #15,735 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1986 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chaz leans strongly male. 8,244 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 205 female bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Chaz: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chaz from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,407 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chaz 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 Chaz during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chaz' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Chaz, while South Dakota, Alaska, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 174 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chaz
The name Chaz is a diminutive form of the name Charles, which is derived from the Germanic name Karl. The name Karl originated from the common adjective "karl," meaning "man" or "husband." It gained popularity in the 9th century after the reign of Charlemagne, the King of the Franks.
The name Charles was later introduced to England by the Norman conquest in 1066. It became a popular name among the English royalty and nobility. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Chaz can be found in the 16th century, when it was used as a diminutive form of Charles.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Chaz. One of the earliest was Chaz Bono (born 1969), an American writer, musician, and LGBTQ+ rights activist. Bono is the child of entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher and is known for their advocacy work.
Another notable figure was Chaz Palminteri (born 1952), an American actor, screenwriter, and playwright. Palminteri is best known for his performance in the film "A Bronx Tale," which he also wrote and adapted for the stage.
In the world of sports, Chaz Schilens (born 1985) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for several teams, including the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets.
The name Chaz has also been associated with musicians, such as Chaz Bundick (born 1987), better known by his stage name Toro y Moi, an American singer-songwriter, and record producer.
Lastly, Chaz Guest (born 1971) is a British actor and writer, known for his roles in television series like "This Life" and "Queer as Folk."
People
Chaz + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chaz 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
Chaz: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chaz?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,793 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chaz 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 35,000 US residents.
Is Chaz a common name?
We classify Chaz as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,052 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chaz most popular?
The single biggest year for Chaz was 1988, when 538 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chaz is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chaz in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,456 people with the name Chaz, or 2.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,758 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 Chaz 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 Chaz?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chaz leans strongly male. 8,244 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 205 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Chaz?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chaz is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Black (29.7%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Chaz most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chaz in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.4% (4,259 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 Chaz in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chaz a male name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Chaz 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 Chaz still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chaz 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 Chaz 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 Chaz?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.