Charles
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English and French.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Charles (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Charles has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2020. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | 10 |
| 2000 | 11 |
| 2001 | 15 |
| 2002 | 12 |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 6 |
| 2005 | 4 |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | 20 |
| 2008 | 15 |
| 2009 | 20 |
| 2010 | 26 |
| 2011 | 13 |
| 2012 | 24 |
| 2013 | 29 |
| 2014 | 37 |
| 2015 | 36 |
| 2016 | 52 |
| 2017 | 36 |
| 2018 | 41 |
| 2019 | 52 |
| 2020 | 55 |
| 2021 | 46 |
| 2022 | 38 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,501 |
| 2000 | 1,487 |
| 2001 | 1,471 |
| 2002 | 1,455 |
| 2003 | 1,428 |
| 2004 | 1,414 |
| 2005 | 1,407 |
| 2006 | 1,411 |
| 2007 | 1,416 |
| 2008 | 1,416 |
| 2009 | 1,447 |
| 2010 | 1,463 |
| 2011 | 1,465 |
| 2012 | 1,461 |
| 2013 | 1,495 |
| 2014 | 1,533 |
| 2015 | 1,560 |
| 2016 | 1,606 |
| 2017 | 1,645 |
| 2018 | 1,695 |
| 2019 | 1,732 |
| 2020 | 1,796 |
Charles in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Charles.Hi! My name is Charles.
- Charles bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Charles lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Charles har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Charles has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Charles mamma är lärare.Charles's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Charles mamma is Charles's mum. Because Charles already ends in s, nothing is added.
More names
Questions about Charles
How do you pronounce Charles in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Charles from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Charles mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from English and French.
How popular is Charles in Sweden?
38 babies were named Charles in 2022. In 2020, 1,796 people in Sweden had Charles as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2020 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.