Charlayne
A feminine name of French origin meaning "free woman".
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Charlayne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charlayne today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charlayne births was 1961 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charlayne. 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
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
1961
66 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1987 SSA rank
#11,604
Tracked since 1939
Census
Charlayne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 251 people with the first name Charlayne, which placed it at #33,109 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
#33,109
National first-name rank
People counted
251
251 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charlayne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlayne is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%). 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 Charlayne 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 Charlayne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.0% · 133
- White37.8% · 95
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 11
- Two or more races2.8% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 5
Popularity
Charlayne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charlayne from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 140 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charlayne 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 Charlayne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charlaynes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Georgia, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Charlayne, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charlayne
The name Charlayne is a relatively modern feminine given name that emerged in the 20th century. It is believed to be a combination of the names Charlotte and Elaine, blending together elements of French and Greek origins.
The name Charlotte is derived from the French form of the Germanic name Karlotta, which itself is a feminine form of the masculine name Karl, meaning "free man." The name Elaine, on the other hand, traces its roots to the Greek name Helene, which means "bright and shining one."
While the name Charlayne does not have a long historical lineage or associations with ancient texts or religious scriptures, its components have been used throughout various cultures and time periods. The name Karl, for instance, was prominent among Germanic rulers, including Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Charlayne can be traced back to the mid-20th century in the United States. One of the most notable individuals bearing this name is Charlayne Hunter-Gault, an American journalist and author born in 1942. She made history as one of the first two African American students admitted to the University of Georgia in 1961, marking a significant milestone in the desegregation of higher education in the southern United States.
Another prominent figure with the name Charlayne is Charlayne Woodard, an American actress, and playwright born in 1953. She is known for her roles in films such as "Scrooged," "Glass Menagerie," and "Unbreakable." Woodard has also received critical acclaim for her one-woman plays, including "Pretty Fire" and "In Real Life."
In the world of sports, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, an American track and field athlete who competed in the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics, made her mark. She won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Charlayne Grenci, born in 1948, is an American author and educator who has written several books on topics related to personal growth and self-empowerment, including "The Woman I Am: A Memoir" and "The Delicate Art of Blending."
Charlayne Woodfield, born in 1958, is a British actress known for her roles in television series such as "Coronation Street" and "Casualty." She has also appeared in films like "Gosford Park" and "The World Is Not Enough."
While the name Charlayne may not have a long historical pedigree, it has gained recognition and popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States, as a unique and distinctive feminine name that combines elements of different cultural traditions.
People
Charlayne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charlayne 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
Charlayne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charlayne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charlayne 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 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Charlayne a common name?
We classify Charlayne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 198 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charlayne most popular?
The single biggest year for Charlayne was 1961, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charlayne is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charlayne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 251 people with the name Charlayne, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,109 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 Charlayne 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 Charlayne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charlayne appears almost entirely female. Of the 257 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Charlayne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlayne is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.4%). 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 Charlayne most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Charlayne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.0% (133 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 Charlayne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charlayne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Charlayne 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.
Is Charlayne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charlayne 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 Charlayne 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 Charlayne?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Charlayne at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.