Charles

See also: charles and charlés

English

Etymology

From French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl. In reference to the Ecuadorian island, a clipping of the original name King Charles's Island, granted in honor of Charles II of England.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɑɹlz/, /t͡ʃɑ˞lz/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɑːlz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)lz

Proper noun

Charles (countable and uncountable, plural Charleses)

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Charles the Great / Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French / Beyond the river Sala, in the year / Eight hundred five.

   • 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, Thou Art the Man:

     […] there never was any person named Charles who was not an open, manly, honest, good-natured, and frank-hearted fellow, with a rich, clear, voice, that did you good to hear it, and an eye that looked at you always straight at the face, as much as to say: "I have a clear conscience myself, am afraid of no man, and am altogether above doing a mean action." And thus all the hearty, careless, 'walking gentlemen' of the stage are very certain to be called Charles.

   • 1988, Ed McBain, The House That Jack Built, page 212:

     […] spoke the way the English do, funny, you know? His name was Roger, I think. Or Nigel. Something like that." "How about Charles?" "Charles? Well, yes, it could have been.Charles does sound English, doesn't it? Their prince is named Charles, isn't he?"

2. A surname originating as a patronymic.
3. A hamlet in East and West Buckland parish, North Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS6832).
4. A neighbourhood of Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
5. Synonym of Floreana, an island in Galapagos, Ecuador.

Usage notes

Common given name since the Middle Ages.

Synonyms

• Chas. (abbreviation)

Derived terms

• Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
• Charles City
• Charles County
• Charles Mix County
• Charles Sturt
• Charleston
• Charlestown
• Charles Town
• Chas.
• Isle de Jean Charles
• King Charles
• Lake Charles
• Saint Charles
• St. Charles
• St Charles

 

Related terms

• diminutives: Charley, Charlie, Chuck, Chucky, Chuckie, Chas, Chaz, Chip
• variants: Carroll, Cathal
• feminine forms: Carla, Carly, Carol, Carole, Carolina, Caroline, Callie, Carrie, Charlene, Charlotte
• alternate derivation paths: Carlo, Carlos, Carl, Karl
• adjectival forms: Carolean, Caroline

Translations

given name

• Albanian: Kërl, Karl
• Arabic: تْشَارْلْز m (tšārlz) (transliteration of English), شَارْل m (šārl) (transliteration of French)
• Aragonese: Carlos m
• Bengali: চার্লস (bn) (carloś)
• Breton: Charlez (br) m
• Catalan: Carles (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 查理 (zh) (Chálǐ), 查爾斯／查尔斯 (zh) (Chá'ěrsī)

• Czech: Karel (cs) m
• Danish: Karl, Carl
• Dutch: Karel (nl) m, Charel
• Esperanto: Karlo
• Estonian: Kaarel
• Finnish: Kaarle (fi), Kaarlo (fi)
• French: Charles (fr)
• Georgian: კარლო (ḳarlo), ჩარლზი (čarlzi), კარლი (ḳarli), კარლოსი (ḳarlosi)
• German: Karl (de)
• Greek: Κάρολος (el) m (Károlos), Τσαρλς (el) (Tsarls) (transliteration of English)
• Greenlandic: Kaali, Kaarali
• Hawaiian: Kale
• Hebrew: צ'ארלס
• Hindi: चार्ल्स (cārls)
• Hungarian: Károly (hu)
• Icelandic: Karl (is)
• Inuktitut: ᑦᓴᕐᓕᔅ (tsarlis)
• Irish: Séarlas m
• Italian: Carlo (it) m
• Japanese: チャールズ (Chāruzu) シャルル (Sharuru) (of French people)
• Korean: 찰스 (Chalseu)
• Latin: Carolus (la)
• Latvian: Kārlis m
• Lithuanian: Karolis m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Korl

• Macedonian: Чарлс m (Čarls)
• Maltese: Karlu m, Karmenu m, Karmena f
• Manx: Çhalse m
• Maori: Tāre
• Marathi: चार्ल्स m (cārlsa)
• Norman: Charles m, Charlot m
• Norwegian: Karl (no)
• Persian: چارلز (fa) (čârlz) (transliteration of English), شارل (fa) (šârl) (transliteration of French)
• Polish: Karol (pl) m
• Portuguese: Carlos (pt) m
• Romanian: Carol
• Russian: Карл (ru) m (Karl), Чарльз (ru) m (Čarlʹz) (transliteration of English), Шарль (ru) m (Šarlʹ) (transliteration of French)
• Scottish Gaelic: Teàrlach
• Serbo-Croatian: Charles m, Карло
• Sicilian: Carlu m, Carru m (obsolete)
• Slovak: Karol (sk) m
• Slovene: Kárel (sl) m
• Spanish: Carlos (es) m
• Swedish: Karl (sv)
• Ukrainian: Карл (Karl)
• Walloon: Tchåle (wa)
• Welsh: Siarl m

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Charles is the 548^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 61,211 individuals. Charles is most common among Black (53.0%) individuals.

Anagrams

• Lachers, clasher, larches, raschel

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Charles, from French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karlaz (“free man”).

Proper noun

Charles

1. a male given name from French

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Charles.

French

Etymology

From Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from Germanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁl/

Proper noun

Charles m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Charles

Derived terms

• Charlemagne
• tu parles, Charles

Descendants

• → English: Charles
• → Russian: Шарль (Šarlʹ)
• → Chinese: 夏爾／夏尔 (Xià'ěr)

Norman

Proper noun

Charles m

1. a male given name

Synonyms

• Charlot

Related terms

• Tchèrli

Old French

Alternative forms

• Carles
• Karles

Etymology

See Charlon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɾləs/

Proper noun

Charles m

1. nominative of Charlon

Descendants

• English: Charles
• French: Charles

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French Charles or English Charles. Doublet of Carlos.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaʁ.lis/ [ˈʃaɦ.lis]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaʁ.lis/ [ˈʃaɦ.lis]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɾ.lis/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaʁ.liʃ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɻ.les/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɾ.lɨʃ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɾ.lɨʃ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɾ.lɨʃ/

Proper noun

Charles m

1. a male given name

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Charles c (genitive Charles)

1. a male given name borrowed from English and French