Charlynn
Feminine name derived from Charles, meaning "free man" or "woman".
Name Census estimates that about 640 living Americans carry the first name Charlynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charlynn today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charlynn births was 1952 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charlynn. 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
640
~ 1 in 535,554 Americans
Peak year
1952
23 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,709
Tracked since 1940
Census
Charlynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 663 people with the first name Charlynn, which placed it at #16,857 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
#16,857
National first-name rank
People counted
663
663 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charlynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlynn is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Charlynn 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 Charlynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.7% · 449
- Black or African American15.4% · 102
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 30
- Two or more races4.4% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 13
Popularity
Charlynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charlynn from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 164 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
Charlynn 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 Charlynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charlynns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Charlynn
The name Charlynn is a relatively modern combination of the names Charles and Lynn. It has its origins in the Germanic languages, with Charles being derived from the Germanic name Karl, meaning "man" or "free man." The name Karl was later Latinized to Carolus, which eventually became Charles.
The name Lynn, on the other hand, has its roots in the Celtic languages and is derived from the Gaelic word "linn," meaning "lake" or "pool." It was originally used as a surname, often referring to someone who lived near a lake or pool.
While the name Charlynn itself does not have a long historical record, its component names have been used for centuries. The name Charles has been popular among European royalty, with notable figures such as Charlemagne (742-814), the first Holy Roman Emperor, and Charles V (1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lynn being used as a first name dates back to the 16th century, when it was given to a character in Edmund Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene" (1590-1596).
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the names Charles and Lynn, but the combined name Charlynn is relatively rare. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Charlynn was Charlynn Fargo (1926-2014), an American actress known for her work in television and film.
Another notable figure was Charlynn Woodard (born 1951), an American actress and playwright who has appeared in numerous stage productions, including her one-woman show "Pretty Fire." Charlynn Avery (born 1963) is an American novelist and poet who has published several works, including the novel "Bright Shadow."
In the realm of sports, Charlynn Buchanan (born 1965) was a professional tennis player from the United States who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 36 in the world. Charlynn Everett (born 1962) is a former professional basketball player who played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
While the name Charlynn may not have a long and storied history, it has been borne by several notable individuals across various fields, reflecting the unique blend of its component names and their respective cultural origins.
People
Charlynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charlynn 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
Charlynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charlynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 640 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charlynn 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 535,554 US residents.
Is Charlynn a common name?
We classify Charlynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 784 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charlynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Charlynn was 1952, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charlynn is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charlynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 663 people with the name Charlynn, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,857 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 Charlynn 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 Charlynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charlynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 662 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Charlynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charlynn is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Charlynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Charlynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.7% (449 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 Charlynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charlynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Charlynn 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 Charlynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charlynn 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 Charlynn 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 the name Charlynn?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Charlynn at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.