Charon
Mythological name referring to the ferryman who carried souls across the river Styx.
Name Census estimates that about 1,010 living Americans carry the first name Charon. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Charon today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Charon births was 1973 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Charon. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 339,361 Americans
Peak year
1973
38 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2013 SSA rank
#12,470
Tracked since 1937
Gender
Gender distribution for Charon
Charon leans heavily female at 82.3% of total registrations, but 216 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Charon as a male name
- Ranked #12,470 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1990 (13 births)
Charon as a female name
- Ranked #18,103 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1973 (29 births)
Popularity
Charon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Charon from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 285 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
Charon 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 Charon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Charons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Charon
The given name Charon originates from ancient Greek mythology and literature. It is derived from the Greek word "Kharont-", which means "the ferryman" or "the fierce one". The name refers to the mythological figure Charon, who was the ferryman responsible for transporting the souls of the dead across the rivers Styx and Acheron, which divided the world of the living from the realm of the dead.
Charon was an essential character in Greek mythology, appearing in various ancient texts such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as Virgil's Aeneid. He was often depicted as an older man with a stern expression, holding a long pole used to guide his boat across the rivers of the underworld. Those who could not pay the fare for the ferry were doomed to wander the shores for a hundred years before being allowed to cross.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Charon can be found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who lived from 428 BC to 348 BC. In his dialogue "Phaedo", Plato describes Charon as the ferryman who guided the souls of the dead across the rivers of the underworld.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Charon. One of the most famous was Charon of Lampsacus, a Greek philosopher and historian who lived in the 5th century BC. He is known for writing a history of Persia and for his works on ethics and politics.
Another notable figure was Charon of Thebes, a Greek sculptor who lived in the 4th century BC. He is best known for creating the sculptures that adorned the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
In the field of astronomy, Charon is the name given to the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. It was discovered in 1978 by the American astronomer James W. Christy and named after the mythological ferryman by the discoverers of Pluto, Clyde W. Tombaugh and Venetia Burney.
In literature, the name Charon has been used by several authors, including John Milton in his epic poem "Paradise Lost" and Dante Alighieri in his "Divine Comedy". In both works, Charon is depicted as the ferryman who guides souls across the river Acheron into the underworld.
Lastly, Charon was the name of a character in the popular book and film series "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling. In the series, Charon is a minor character who works as the ferryman for the Hogwarts Express, transporting students across the Black Lake to the school's grounds.
People
Charon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Charon 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
Charon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Charon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,010 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Charon 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 339,361 US residents.
Is Charon a common name?
We classify Charon as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Charon most popular?
The single biggest year for Charon was 1973, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Charon is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Charon a female name?
Yes, 82.3% of people registered as Charon 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.