Charlene
A feminine name of French origin meaning "petite" or "little woman".
Name Census estimates that about 85,279 living Americans carry the first name Charlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charlene today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charlene births was 1952 (3,557 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charlene. 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 Charlene with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Charlene is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 382 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Charlene have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
85K
~ 1 in 4,019 Americans
Peak year
1952
3,557 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1990 SSA rank
#1,747
Tracked since 1888
Census
Charlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 97,322 people with the first name Charlene, which placed it at #562 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
#562
National first-name rank
People counted
97K
97,322 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
32.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlene is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Charlene 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 Charlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.6% · 66,789
- Black or African American18.3% · 17,804
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 4,500
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 3,719
- Two or more races3.2% · 3,131
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 1,379
Gender
Gender distribution for Charlene
Out of the 134,011 babies given the name Charlene since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Charlene as a male name
- Ranked #8,313 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1957 (14 births)
Charlene as a female name
- Ranked #1,747 in 2024
- 115 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1952 (3,546 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 97,330 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Charlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charlene from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 32,798 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charlene 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 Charlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Charlene, while Nevada, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,546 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Charlene
Charlene is a feminine given name of French origin, derived from the male name Charles, which itself comes from the Germanic name Karl, meaning "free man" or "freeman." The name Charlene gained popularity in the 20th century, particularly in the United States and parts of Europe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Charlene dates back to the 19th century, although it was relatively uncommon until the mid-20th century. One of the earliest notable individuals with this name was Charlene Mitchell, an American stage actress born in 1900, who appeared in various Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another prominent figure with the name Charlene was Princess Charlene of Monaco, born Charlene Wittstock in 1978. She was a former Olympic swimmer from South Africa who married Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2011, becoming the Princess of Monaco.
In the realm of entertainment, Charlene Tilton, born in 1958, is an American actress best known for her role as Lucy Ewing on the popular television series "Dallas" in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Charlene Gonzales, born in 1972, is a Filipino singer, actress, and television host who has been active in the entertainment industry since the 1990s.
Another notable Charlene was Charlene Woodburne, born in 1893, an American mathematician and educator who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics education in the early 20th century. She was recognized for her work in developing new methods for teaching mathematics and was a pioneer in promoting the use of visual aids and hands-on learning techniques.
While the name Charlene has French origins, it has been embraced and adopted across various cultures and countries, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in various fields, including the arts, entertainment, sports, and academia.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Charlene
People
Charlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charlene 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
Charlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 85,279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charlene 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 4,019 US residents.
Is Charlene a common name?
We classify Charlene as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 134,011 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Charlene was 1952, when 3,557 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charlene is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 97,322 people with the name Charlene, or 32.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #562 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 Charlene 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 Charlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 97,330 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Charlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlene is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Charlene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Charlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (66,789 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 Charlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charlene a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Charlene 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 Charlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charlene 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 Charlene 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 have Charlene as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.