Charity
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "love of humankind".
Name Census estimates that about 30,550 living Americans carry the first name Charity. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charity today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charity births was 1975 (1,428 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charity. 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
31K
~ 1 in 11,219 Americans
Peak year
1975
1,428 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1986 SSA rank
#2,037
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Charity
Out of the 35,458 babies given the name Charity 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.
Charity as a male name
- Ranked #6,893 in 1986
- 5 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1975 (8 births)
Charity as a female name
- Ranked #2,037 in 2024
- 95 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (1,420 births)
Popularity
Charity: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charity from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 9,741 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charity 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 Charity during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charitys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Charity, while Delaware, District of Columbia, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 600 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charity
The name Charity is derived from the Latin word "caritas", which means "dearness, high regard, or esteem". It is also related to the Latin word "carus", meaning "dear" or "beloved". The name emerged during the early Christian era, around the 3rd to 4th century AD, as a virtue representing compassion, love, and generosity towards others.
Charity was initially popularized as a virtue in the New Testament of the Bible, particularly in the writings of St. Paul, who described it as one of the three greatest virtues, along with faith and hope. The concept of charity as a virtue was embraced by the early Christian church and became a central tenet of the religion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Charity as a given name is found in the 6th century AD, with Saint Charity of Le Puy, a French abbess and founder of the Abbey of Le Puy-en-Velay. Another notable figure was Charity Byrne (c. 1701-1773), an Irish Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the 17th century, the name gained popularity in England, with Charity White (c. 1603-1691) being one of the earliest recorded individuals with this name. She was a Puritan woman who immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.
Another famous bearer of the name was Charity Hayter (1825-1892), an English novelist and writer of children's books, who was known for her moral tales and stories promoting Christian values.
In the 19th century, Charity Ricketts (1841-1910) was an American social reformer and activist who worked for women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery. She was also involved in the establishment of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
Charity Edna Munden (1879-1966), also known as Charity Edna Motley, was an American educator and civil rights activist who fought for desegregation and equal educational opportunities for African Americans in Oklahoma.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Charity, reflecting its association with virtues of compassion, generosity, and service to others throughout different eras and cultures.
People
Charity + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charity 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
Charity: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charity?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charity 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 11,219 US residents.
Is Charity a common name?
We classify Charity as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 35,458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charity most popular?
The single biggest year for Charity was 1975, when 1,428 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charity is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Charity a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Charity 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.