Charmane
Meaning "woman with charm" or "charming woman," originating from French.
Name Census estimates that about 645 living Americans carry the first name Charmane. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Charmane today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charmane births was 1970 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charmane. 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
645
~ 1 in 531,402 Americans
Peak year
1970
31 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1996 SSA rank
#8,272
Tracked since 1944
Census
Charmane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 725 people with the first name Charmane, which placed it at #15,757 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
#15,757
National first-name rank
People counted
725
725 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Charmane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charmane is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Charmane 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 Charmane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.6% · 410
- White29.2% · 212
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 45
- Two or more races3.2% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 13
Popularity
Charmane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charmane from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 177 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Charmane remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Charmane 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 Charmane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charmanes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Charmane
The name Charmane is a modern variant of the French feminine name Charmaine, which derives from the Old French word "charmant," meaning "charming" or "lovely." This name originated in the 12th century during the High Middle Ages and gained popularity across Europe.
The name Charmaine can be traced back to the Occitan language spoken in southern France, where it was likely derived from the words "car" (dear) and "amina" (friend or lover). Its earliest known use was in the poetry and troubadour songs of the Provençal region, where it was often used as a term of endearment for a beloved woman.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Charmaine can be found in the 13th-century epic poem "Le Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. In this work, the character Charmaine is portrayed as a beautiful and charming woman, embodying the ideals of courtly love.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Charmane or its variants. Charmaine Sheh (born 1975) is a popular Hong Kong actress and singer known for her roles in television dramas and films. Charmian Carr (1942-2016) was an American actress best known for her portrayal of Liesl von Trapp in the classic film "The Sound of Music."
Charmian Littleton (1917-2005) was a British actress and author who appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout her career. Charmaine Forde (born 1962) is a former Canadian sprinter who won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Charmaine Shoulders (born 1967) is an American former basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and won a gold medal as part of the United States women's basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
While the name Charmane retains its French roots and the essence of charm and loveliness, it has evolved into a distinct and modern variant that continues to be used across various cultures and regions.
People
Charmane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charmane 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
Charmane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charmane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 645 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charmane 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 531,402 US residents.
Is Charmane a common name?
We classify Charmane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 754 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charmane most popular?
The single biggest year for Charmane was 1970, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charmane is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Charmane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 725 people with the name Charmane, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,757 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 Charmane 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 Charmane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Charmane leans strongly female. 719 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Charmane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Charmane is Black at 56.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Charmane most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Charmane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.6% (410 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 Charmane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Charmane a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Charmane 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 Charmane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Charmane 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 Charmane 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 named Charmane?
Want to know how many people share the name Charmane? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.