Johncharles
A masculine compound given name combining John and Charles.
Name Census estimates that about 85 living Americans carry the first name Johncharles. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Johncharles today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johncharles births was 1979 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johncharles. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Johncharles. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
85
~ 1 in 4,032,404 Americans
Peak year
1979
8 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,406
Tracked since 1953
Popularity
Johncharles: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johncharles from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 48 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johncharles 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 Johncharles 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 Johncharles
The name Johncharles is a unique composite of two separate given names, John and Charles, each with its own distinct history and origins. The name John has its roots in the Hebrew name Yochanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious." It was a popular name among early Christians, as it was the name of John the Baptist and the Apostle John. The name Charles, on the other hand, is derived from the Germanic name Karl, which means "free man" or "manly."
In terms of historical references, the name John appears frequently in religious texts, such as the Bible and the Quran. The Apostle John, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, is a central figure in the New Testament and is credited with writing the Gospel of John, as well as the epistles 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. Additionally, John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus Christ, is a prominent figure in all four Gospels.
The earliest recorded example of the name John can be traced back to the 6th century BCE, with a figure named John the Essene mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Throughout history, there have been numerous notable individuals with the name John, including John Wycliffe (c. 1328-1384), an English philosopher and theologian who played a significant role in the Reformation; John Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian and one of the key figures in the Protestant Reformation; and John Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher and physician widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment era.
As for the name Charles, it gained widespread popularity in Europe after Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, who lived from 742 to 814 CE. Charlemagne was a powerful and influential figure, and his name became a symbol of strength and leadership. Notable individuals named Charles include Charles I (1600-1649), the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland during the English Civil War; Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the celebrated English novelist; and Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the English naturalist and biologist best known for his theory of evolution.
While the combination of John and Charles into the single name Johncharles is relatively uncommon, it does have a few notable historical figures. One example is Johncharles Ampongsah Gyedu (1939-2020), a Ghanaian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Health and the Minister of Trade and Industry in Ghana.
People
Johncharles + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johncharles as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Johncharles: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johncharles?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 85 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johncharles 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 4,032,404 US residents.
Is Johncharles a common name?
We classify Johncharles as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 90 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johncharles most popular?
The single biggest year for Johncharles was 1979, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johncharles is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Johncharles in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johncharles a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johncharles 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 Johncharles still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johncharles 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 Johncharles 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Johncharles?
Want to know how many Americans are named Johncharles? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.