Charlene
Charlene was given to 99 girls in 2025, #1,948 among girls’ names; 134,111 Americans have been recorded with it since 1888 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 94,100 Americans named Charlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (70% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 54 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Charlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Charlene mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Charlene is “a female given name from the Germanic languages; most used in the U.S. in the 1940s.”
A feminine form of Charles coined in the nineteenth century. Compare Marlene, Helene and Magdalene for the suffix.
/ʃɑɹˈlin/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Charlene?
#1,948 among girls’ names, 2025
Charlene fell from #1,533 in 2015 to #1,948 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 81.8 to 61.6 per million.
3,557 babies in 1952, the peak
Charlene peaked in 1952, when 3,557 babies were given it (3,546 girls, #106 among girls’ names). The 99 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 99 | #1,948 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 115 | #1,753 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 102 | #1,935 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 111 | #1,829 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 114 | #1,780 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 119 | #1,704 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 111 | #1,834 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 112 | #1,818 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 153 | #1,467 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 147 | #1,534 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 146 | #1,533 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 159 | #1,427 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 116 | #1,766 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 134 | #1,613 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 134 | #1,612 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 136 | #1,598 | 0.08 |
| 2009 | 142 | #1,584 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 153 | #1,521 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 182 | #1,334 | 0.09 |
| 2006 | 190 | #1,261 | 0.10 |
| 2005 | 178 | #1,262 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 202 | #1,127 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 165 | #1,266 | 0.09 |
| 2002 | 170 | #1,197 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 168 | #1,211 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 191 | #1,080 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 208 | #988 | 0.12 |
| 1998 | 252 | #846 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 307 | #702 | 0.18 |
| 1996 | 291 | #720 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 310 | #686 | 0.18 |
| 1994 | 406 | #569 | 0.23 |
| 1993 | 427 | #558 | 0.24 |
| 1992 | 473 | #508 | 0.26 |
| 1991 | 531 | #460 | 0.28 |
| 1990 | 659 | #395 | 0.35 |
| 1989 | 710 | #361 | 0.39 |
| 1988 | 707 | #350 | 0.40 |
| 1987 | 804 | #304 | 0.46 |
| 1986 | 785 | #306 | 0.46 |
| 1985 | 902 | #277 | 0.52 |
| 1984 | 936 | #261 | 0.56 |
| 1983 | 961 | #244 | 0.58 |
| 1982 | 1,060 | #238 | 0.63 |
| 1981 | 1,003 | #248 | 0.60 |
| 1980 | 1,070 | #240 | 0.64 |
| 1979 | 935 | #258 | 0.58 |
| 1978 | 936 | #253 | 0.61 |
| 1977 | 1,068 | #234 | 0.70 |
| 1976 | 1,081 | #225 | 0.74 |
| 1975 | 1,073 | #226 | 0.74 |
| 1974 | 1,070 | #237 | 0.73 |
| 1973 | 1,206 | #211 | 0.83 |
| 1972 | 1,462 | #195 | 1.0 |
| 1971 | 1,733 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 1970 | 1,983 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1969 | 1,996 | #163 | 1.2 |
| 1968 | 1,948 | #166 | 1.2 |
| 1967 | 2,076 | #160 | 1.3 |
| 1966 | 2,187 | #159 | 1.3 |
| 1965 | 2,590 | #142 | 1.5 |
| 1964 | 2,807 | #144 | 1.5 |
| 1963 | 2,729 | #149 | 1.4 |
| 1962 | 2,563 | #158 | 1.3 |
| 1961 | 2,834 | #150 | 1.4 |
| 1960 | 2,894 | #148 | 1.4 |
| 1959 | 2,746 | #153 | 1.4 |
| 1958 | 3,067 | #138 | 1.5 |
| 1957 | 3,149 | #136 | 1.5 |
| 1956 | 3,275 | #132 | 1.6 |
| 1955 | 3,301 | #130 | 1.7 |
| 1954 | 3,241 | #126 | 1.7 |
| 1953 | 3,504 | #113 | 1.9 |
| 1952 | 3,546 | #106 | 1.9 |
| 1951 | 3,441 | #103 | 1.9 |
| 1950 | 3,448 | #103 | 2.0 |
| 1949 | 3,541 | #100 | 2.1 |
| 1948 | 3,487 | #105 | 2.1 |
| 1947 | 3,477 | #105 | 2.0 |
| 1946 | 3,037 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1945 | 2,388 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1944 | 2,433 | #109 | 1.8 |
| 1943 | 2,354 | #121 | 1.7 |
| 1942 | 2,319 | #117 | 1.7 |
| 1941 | 2,060 | #125 | 1.7 |
| 1940 | 1,686 | #145 | 1.5 |
| 1939 | 1,704 | #139 | 1.6 |
| 1938 | 1,673 | #143 | 1.5 |
| 1937 | 1,581 | #141 | 1.5 |
| 1936 | 1,482 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 1935 | 1,395 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1934 | 1,344 | #151 | 1.3 |
| 1933 | 1,174 | #156 | 1.2 |
| 1932 | 1,123 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1931 | 1,008 | #179 | 0.95 |
| 1930 | 987 | #195 | 0.88 |
| 1929 | 932 | #200 | 0.83 |
| 1928 | 854 | #215 | 0.74 |
| 1927 | 833 | #221 | 0.70 |
| 1926 | 581 | #276 | 0.49 |
| 1925 | 587 | #274 | 0.48 |
| 1924 | 449 | #316 | 0.36 |
| 1923 | 390 | #329 | 0.32 |
| 1922 | 332 | #363 | 0.28 |
| 1921 | 318 | #378 | 0.26 |
| 1920 | 294 | #383 | 0.25 |
| 1919 | 233 | #429 | 0.21 |
| 1918 | 248 | #417 | 0.21 |
| 1917 | 203 | #452 | 0.19 |
| 1916 | 169 | #497 | 0.16 |
| 1915 | 133 | #556 | 0.14 |
| 1914 | 89 | #602 | 0.12 |
| 1913 | 75 | #596 | 0.12 |
| 1912 | 61 | #634 | 0.11 |
| 1911 | 40 | #688 | 0.10 |
| 1910 | 31 | #772 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 28 | #764 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 29 | #723 | 0.09 |
| 1907 | 19 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 11 | #1,166 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 13 | #1,065 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 13 | #1,011 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,631 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,339 | 0.03 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,514 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,762 | 0.02 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,429 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 12 | #1,013 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,143 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,323 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,307 | 0.03 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,313 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Charlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Charlene has been given almost only to girls: 382 boys in 132 years of records.
Girls and boys named Charlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Charlene, and how old are they?
94,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 70% of the 134,111 Americans ever recorded as Charlene. The median Charlene alive today is 65 years old; half are between 54 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 97,330 people named Charlene (97,216 women and girls, 114 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 103,806 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 10,000 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 46,300 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 22,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 10,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,880 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,590 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Charlene born?
The states with the most babies named Charlene are California, New York and Illinois, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 12,307 | #1,331 | 1.1× |
| New York | 9,138 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 7,598 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 7,590 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 6,833 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 6,505 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 6,412 | #2,074 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 3,977 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Louisiana | 3,552 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Florida | 3,550 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Charlene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Charlene is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Charlene with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 156,305 babies since 1880, Charlene is the most given (86% of them). In 2025 it was given to 99 of their 114 babies (87%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Charlene
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Charlene and names like it
- Compare Charlene and SharleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sCharlene peaked in 1952.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Charlene since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Charlene: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Charlene.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Charlene alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.