Charlotte
Meaning of Charlotte
Charlotte is the French feminine form of Charles, which comes from the Germanic Karl, meaning "free man." The ending -otte is a French diminutive suffix, and name dictionaries usually gloss Charlotte as "free woman." It is a classic name rather than a symbolic one, and its meaning is rarely disputed.
Pronounced SHAHR-luht in both British and American English, with a slightly different final vowel (/ʃɑrˈlɔt/ in Britain and /ʃɑrˈlʊt/ in the U.S.), it is associated with Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III and Britain's longest-serving queen consort, and with the novelist Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White's children's novel, gives the name a well-known place in literature, and the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, is named for Queen Charlotte.
In the United States, Charlotte's popularity has shifted dramatically. By 1982 it had slipped to No. 308; it then rose to No. 10 in 2014 and No. 2 in 2025, when 13,400 babies were given the name. That places it among the most common girls' names in the country today, far above its late-twentieth-century standing.
Pronunciation
British English
- Pronunced as SHAHR-luht (/ʃɑrˈlɔt/)
American English
- Pronunced as SHAHR-luht (/ʃɑrˈlʊt/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Charlotte
| Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr is an American pro wrestler known as Charlotte Flair on WWE SmackDown and is currently one half of the WWE Womens Tag Team Champions with Alexa Bliss. |
| Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III, was Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland from 1761 to 1818, became Queen of Hanover in 1814, and is Britain’s longest-serving queen consort. |
| Charlotte Brontë - Charlotte Bronte, elder sister of Emily, Anne and Branwell, was an English novelist and poet best known for Jane Eyre, first published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. |
| Charlotte Gainsbourg is a French and British actress and singer, daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, who debuted musically with her father, later released acclaimed albums, starred in films including with Lars von Trier, and won two Cesar Awards and Cannes Best Actress. |
| Charlotte Casiraghi - Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi is a Monegasque model, socialite, equestrian, and journalist, the second child of Princess Caroline of Hanover and Stefano Casiraghi, eleventh in line to the Monaco throne, granddaughter of Rainier III and Grace Kelly, and named for her great grandmother Princess Charlotte. |
| Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was an American character actress and singer with a 66 year career. |
| Scottish author and critic Charlotte Lennox, famed for The Female Quixote, earned praise from Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding, was celebrated in art, and is remembered for pioneering Shakespeare source studies and her magazine The Ladys Museum. |
| Charlotte Saunders Cushman was an American stage actress with a rich contralto who played both male and female roles and spent periods in Rome among expatriate artists who figured in her stormy private life. |
| Charlotte Mew was an English poet who bridged Victorian and Modernist poetry. |
| English tennis star Charlotte Cooper Sterry won five Wimbledon singles titles and in 1900 became the first woman to win Olympic tennis and the first individual female Olympic champion. |
