Charleston
Charleston is given to both girls and boys: 48 girls and 41 boys were given it in 2025 (#3,261 among girls’ names and #3,002 among boys’, #3,839 among all names counting both); 3,813 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Charleston every year since 2015.
An estimated 3,560 Americans named Charleston and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 8 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Charleston by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Charleston?
#3,002 among boys’ names, 2025
Charleston fell from #1,745 in 2015 to #3,002 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 45.9 to 24.0 per million.
343 babies in 2015, the peak
Charleston peaked in 2015, when 343 babies were given it (88 boys, #1,745 among boys’ names). The 89 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 26% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 48 | #3,261 | 41 | #3,002 |
| 2024 | 46 | #3,411 | 46 | #2,799 |
| 2023 | 46 | #3,436 | 29 | #3,808 |
| 2022 | 64 | #2,702 | 44 | #2,878 |
| 2021 | 68 | #2,563 | 54 | #2,467 |
| 2020 | 64 | #2,636 | 58 | #2,326 |
| 2019 | 88 | #2,133 | 70 | #2,062 |
| 2018 | 94 | #2,064 | 58 | #2,304 |
| 2017 | 99 | #1,993 | 58 | #2,278 |
| 2016 | 156 | #1,473 | 65 | #2,137 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 255 | #1,042 | 88 | #1,745 |
| 2014 | 41 | #3,732 | 71 | #2,003 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,685 | 51 | #2,428 |
| 2012 | 26 | #5,285 | 50 | #2,498 |
| 2011 | 20 | #6,386 | 51 | #2,442 |
| 2010 | 19 | #6,705 | 47 | #2,590 |
| 2009 | 19 | #6,866 | 53 | #2,408 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,227 | 27 | #3,840 |
| 2007 | 23 | #5,937 | 38 | #3,031 |
| 2006 | 19 | #6,639 | 42 | #2,748 |
| 2005 | 8 | #12,048 | 34 | #3,023 |
| 2004 | 11 | #9,382 | 32 | #3,088 |
| 2003 | 9 | #10,602 | 35 | #2,791 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,634 | 22 | #3,801 |
| 2001 | 11 | #8,881 | 37 | #2,565 |
| 2000 | 5 | #15,493 | 30 | #2,921 |
| 1999 | 6 | #12,989 | 34 | #2,563 |
| 1998 | 9 | #9,416 | 36 | #2,398 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,069 | 52 | #1,813 |
| 1996 | under 5 | 31 | #2,485 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 31 | #2,450 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 26 | #2,775 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 39 | #2,051 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 40 | #1,979 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 39 | #1,947 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 46 | #1,728 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 44 | #1,734 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 45 | #1,589 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 38 | #1,736 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 30 | #1,962 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 33 | #1,800 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 38 | #1,582 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 25 | #2,096 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 29 | #1,898 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 31 | #1,816 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 23 | #2,227 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 27 | #1,950 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 25 | #1,972 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 26 | #1,915 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 17 | #2,521 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 20 | #2,214 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 27 | #1,756 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 22 | #1,936 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 13 | #2,677 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 13 | #2,699 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 12 | #2,754 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 14 | #2,326 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 12 | #2,462 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 14 | #2,153 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 14 | #2,146 | |
| 1965 | under 5 | 13 | #2,282 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 11 | #2,560 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 18 | #1,911 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 6 | #3,689 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 12 | #2,430 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 11 | #2,558 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 14 | #2,213 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 10 | #2,666 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 10 | #2,665 | |
| 1956 | under 5 | 10 | #2,651 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 16 | #1,981 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 10 | #2,612 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 10 | #2,558 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 11 | #2,389 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 8 | #2,803 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 8 | #2,825 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 6 | #3,227 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 6 | #3,275 | |
| 1941 | under 5 | 5 | #3,577 | |
| 1940 | under 5 | 7 | #2,914 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 6 | #3,227 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 6 | #3,320 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 6 | #3,331 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 5 | #3,857 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 7 | #3,408 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 6 | #3,839 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 8 | #3,188 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 12 | #2,500 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 7 | #3,519 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 6 | #3,929 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 9 | #3,020 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 9 | #2,999 | |
| 1919 | under 5 | 6 | #3,805 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 6 | #3,796 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 5 | #4,080 | |
| 1914 | under 5 | 5 | #3,336 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Charleston a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,813 Americans recorded as Charleston, 34% are girls and 66% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Charleston: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Charleston, and how old are they?
3,560 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 3,813 Americans ever recorded as Charleston. The median Charleston alive today is 13 years old; half are between 8 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 2,538 people named Charleston (904 women and girls, 1,634 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,028 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 9 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 119 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 260 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 537 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 821 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,810 |
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 Charleston born?
The states with the most babies named Charleston are South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, with 81% of its births recorded by state in 2025; South Carolina and Tennessee are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 8 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Tennessee | 8 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 5 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 5 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Charleston is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Charleston is most over-represented in South Carolina: since 1914 it was given 1.9 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 boys’ 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 Charleston with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Charleston
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 Charleston and names like it
- Compare Charleston and ArianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sCharleston peaked in 2015.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Charleston since 1910.
- The top names of 2015The year the most babies were named Charleston.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Charleston alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.