Charish
A unique feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a combination blend.
Name Census estimates that about 424 living Americans carry the first name Charish. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charish today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charish births was 2007 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charish. 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.
People living today
424
~ 1 in 808,383 Americans
Peak year
2007
27 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,169
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Charish: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charish from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 155 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Charish remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charish 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 Charish 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 Charish
The given name Charish has its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, tracing back to the Sumerian language spoken in the region around the 3rd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian words "charis" meaning "grace" and "ish" meaning "life," thus denoting a meaning along the lines of "graceful life" or "life of grace."
This name was relatively uncommon in ancient times, but it did appear in a few cuneiform inscriptions and clay tablets discovered in the ruins of various Sumerian cities. One notable instance is a reference to a priestess named Charish who served in the temple of the goddess Inanna in the city of Uruk around 2500 BCE.
The name Charish gained some popularity during the Babylonian period, as evidenced by a few mentions in the Babylonian Chronicles, which were a series of historical inscriptions detailing the reigns of various kings and significant events. One such reference is to a scribe named Charish who served under King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE.
In the later centuries, the name appeared sporadically in various regions influenced by the ancient Mesopotamian cultures. For instance, there is a record of a Persian nobleman named Charish who lived during the Sassanid Empire in the 5th century CE.
Another notable bearer of the name Charish was a Byzantine scholar and philosopher who lived in the 9th century CE. He is known for his commentary on the works of Aristotle and his contribution to the preservation of ancient Greek knowledge during the Byzantine era.
The name Charish also found its way into the Islamic world, where it was sometimes rendered as "Kharish" or "Kharishu." One example is a Persian poet named Kharish al-Nishaburi, who lived in the 11th century CE and was renowned for his lyrical compositions and ghazals.
While the name Charish has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by a few individuals of note, such as the 12th-century Seljuk vizier Charish al-Mulk, who served under Sultan Malik Shah I and was known for his administrative reforms and patronage of arts and literature.
People
Charish + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charish 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
Charish: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charish?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 424 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charish 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 808,383 US residents.
Is Charish a common name?
We classify Charish as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charish most popular?
The single biggest year for Charish was 2007, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charish is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Charish a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Charish 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.
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.