Mostly boys · peaked in 1880
Charley name popularity since 1925
23,465 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Charley (47.7% girls, 52.3% boys). Half of them were born in 1999 or earlier, so the typical Charley is about 27 years old in 2026. Charley peaked in 1880 as the #59 name for boys, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 23,465
- Named Charley, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1880
- #59 for boys that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,827 for boys in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 52.3% boys
- 11,186 girls · 12,279 boys
- Most popular in
- Oklahoma
- 4.73× its national share
Peak year is the year Charley made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Charley births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1926. Measured as a share of all babies, Charley peaked earlier, in 1880.
- Steepest fall: Between 1941 and 1946, Charley's share of baby boys fell by 42%, from 1 in 5,910 to 1 in 10,200.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Charley's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Charley.
Decade by decade
Babies named Charley in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 83 | 1,757 | – |
| 1930s | 131 | 2,423 | #355 |
| 1940s | 102 | 1,852 | #480 |
| 1950s | 52 | 1,414 | #629 |
| 1960s | 11 | 1,021 | #766 |
| 1970s | 75 | 727 | #1,020 |
| 1980s | 388 | 625 | #1,372 |
| 1990s | 655 | 440 | #1,807 |
| 2000s | 1,728 | 631 | #1,856 |
| 2010s | 5,369 | 865 | #1,781 |
| 2020–25 | 2,592 | 524 | #1,827 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
33.4% of babies named Charley from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Alpha years (2013–2025). The full split by generation:
Where Charley is most popular
The index compares Charley's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Charley.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 4.73× | 1,034 |
| Arkansas | 3.90× | 672 |
| Mississippi | 3.39× | 689 |
| Louisiana | 3.14× | 946 |
| Kentucky | 2.01× | 565 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Charley and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Boys | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Charley (this page) | 12,279 | 1880 |
| Charlie | 129,174 | 1900 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Charley's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Charley.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Charley (1880).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data