Chucky
A diminutive form of the name Charles, meaning "manly" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 520 living Americans carry the first name Chucky. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chucky today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chucky births was 1961 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chucky. 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
520
~ 1 in 659,143 Americans
Peak year
1961
36 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2000 SSA rank
#10,646
Tracked since 1948
Census
Chucky in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 430 people with the first name Chucky, which placed it at #22,949 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
#22,949
National first-name rank
People counted
430
430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chucky
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chucky is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (10.5%). 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 Chucky 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 Chucky at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.5% · 213
- Black or African American28.6% · 123
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 24
- Two or more races4.2% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 7
Popularity
Chucky: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chucky from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 221 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
Chucky 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 Chucky during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chuckys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Chucky, while Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chucky
The name Chucky is a diminutive form of the English name Charles, which originated from the German name Karl, meaning "free man" or "manly." The name Karl is derived from the Old English word "ceorl," meaning "a free man of the lowest class." The name Chucky emerged as a nickname for Charles in the mid-20th century.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Chucky can be traced back to the 1988 horror film "Child's Play," where the main antagonist, a possessed doll, is named Chucky. This popular horror movie franchise helped popularize the name, albeit with a sinister connotation. However, it's worth noting that the name Chucky existed before the film.
In terms of historical references, there are no significant mentions of the name Chucky in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. This is likely due to its relatively recent origin as a diminutive form of Charles.
While the name Chucky is not as common as its parent name Charles, there have been a few notable individuals who have carried this moniker. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Chucky was Charles "Chucky" Thompson, an American basketball player born in 1927 who played for the Minneapolis Lakers in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Another notable person with the name Chucky was Charles "Chucky" Brown, an American actor and comedian born in 1919. He was known for his roles in various television shows and films in the 1950s and 1960s, including "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Nutty Professor."
In the realm of sports, Charles "Chucky" Atkins, an American professional baseball player born in 1965, played as an outfielder for several Major League Baseball teams, including the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds, during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Charles "Chucky" Russell, born in 1948, was an American basketball player who played for the Seattle SuperSonics and the Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 1970s.
Lastly, Charles "Chucky" Reid, born in 1957, was an American professional wrestler known for his tenure in various wrestling promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) and the World Championship Wrestling (WCW), during the 1980s and 1990s.
People
Chucky + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chucky 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
Chucky: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chucky?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 520 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chucky 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 659,143 US residents.
Is Chucky a common name?
We classify Chucky as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 609 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chucky most popular?
The single biggest year for Chucky was 1961, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chucky is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chucky in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 430 people with the name Chucky, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,949 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 Chucky 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 Chucky?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chucky leans strongly male. 422 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 10 female bearers (2.3%). 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 Chucky?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chucky is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (10.5%). 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 Chucky most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chucky in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.5% (213 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 Chucky in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chucky a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chucky in the SSA data are male. 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 Chucky still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chucky 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 Chucky 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 Chucky?
Want to know how many people have the name Chucky? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.