- For people with family name Charles, see Charles (surname)
Charles is a given name for males, and has its origins in the Common Germanic term Churl, where it originally was used to indicate a free man, but not one belonging to the nobility.
Female versions of this name include Charlotte, Lotte, Charlotta, Carolyn, Lotta and Charlene.
Charles may also refer to:
People
Nobility
In Austrian nobility:
In Bohemian nobility:
In French nobility:
- Charlemagne (Charles I of France), 1st Holy Roman Emperor, son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon
- Charles the Bald, the youngest son of Emperor Louis the Pious
- Charles the Fat, son of Louis the German
- Charles the Simple, member of the Carolingian dynasty who ruled as King of France
- Charles IV of France, member of the Capetian Dynasty
- Charles V of France, king of France from 1364 to 1380 and a member of the Valois Dynasty
- Charles VI of France, member of the Valois Dynasty
- Charles VII of France, king of France from 1422 to 1461
- Charles VIII of France, King of France from 1483 to his death
- Charles IX of France, the son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de Medici
- Charles X of France, the grandson of Louis XV and his Polish queen
- Charles Joseph Bonaparte, grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte
- Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte
- Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, President of France from 1849 to 1852
- Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, the son of Jerome Bonaparte and Catharina of Württemberg
- Charles I of Sicily
- Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, French political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment
- Charles, Count Léon, the illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon I of France and Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne
- Charles, duc d'Orléans, Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont and of Blois, lord of Coucy, and the inheritor of Asti in Italy via his mother Valentina Visconti
- Charles, Duke of Brittany, the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon
- Charles I, Duke of Burgundy, the son of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy and Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy
- Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis
- Charles II, Duke of Bourbon, clergyman, Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyon
- Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne
- Charles II, Duke of Lorraine, the duke of Lorraine from 1390 to his death and constable of France from 1418 to 1425
- Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, the eldest surviving son of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark
- Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, European nobility
- Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French nobleman and military leader
- Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, the son of Leopold Joseph
In German nobility:
In British nobility:
- Charles I of England, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
- Charles II of England, the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland
- Charles Edward Stuart, the exiled claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English military commander and colonial governor
- Charles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
In Hungarian nobility:
In Spanish nobility:
- Charles II of Navarre, one of the nobles involved in the repression of the Jacquerie
- Charles III of Navarre, Navarrese monarch
- Charles I of Spain, King of Aragon, King of Castile, King of Naples and Sicily, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, and was also Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V)
- Charles II of Spain, the only surviving son of his Habsburg predecessor, King Philip IV of Spain and his second Queen
- Charles III of Spain, the first son of the second marriage of Philip V with Elizabeth Farnese of Parma
- Charles IV of Spain, King of Spain from December 14, 1788 until his abdication on March 19, 1808
- Juan Carlos I of Spain, the reigning King of Spain
In Italian nobility:
- Charles I of Savoy, the Duke of Savoy from 1482 to 1490 and titular king of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia from 1485 to 1490
- Charles II of Savoy, the Duke of Savoy from 1490 to 1496
- Charles III, Duke of Savoy, Duke of Savoy from 1504 to 1553
- Charles Albert of Sardinia, the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1831 to 1849
- Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630
- Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675
- Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 to 1773
- Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, King of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802
- Charles Felix of Sardinia, the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831
- Charles I of Sicily, the posthumous son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile
- Charles II of Naples, son of Charles I of Naples
In Monaco nobility:
In Romanian nobility:
In Swedish nobility:
- Charles VII of Sweden, King of Sweden and Earl of Götaland from circa 1161 to 1167
- Charles VIII of Sweden, King of Sweden
- Charles IX of Sweden, King of Sweden, the youngest son of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud
- Charles X Gustav of Sweden, the second Wittelsbach King of Sweden after Christopher of Bavaria
- Charles XI of Sweden, King of Sweden, the only son of Charles X of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
- Charles XII of Sweden, the fourth King of the Wittelsbach dynasty in Sweden
- Charles XIII of Sweden, King of Sweden, the second son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia
- Charles XIV John of Sweden, King of Sweden and Norway. Former Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France
- Charles XV of Sweden, King of Sweden, the eldest son of King Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg
- Charles XVI of Sweden, King of Sweden
In other nobility:
Acting
- Charles Boyer, French-American actor
- Charles Bayog, Filipino actor
- Roger Charles Carmel, American character actor
- Charlie Chaplin, English comedy actor, famous for silent film acting
- Charley Chase, American silent film comedian and writer
- Charles Dance, English actor
- Charles Gray (actor), English actor
- Charles Grodin, American actor and cable talk show host
- Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter), American actor
- Charles Laughton, English actor
- Chas Licciardello, Australian comedian and a member of The Chaser
- Charles Nelson Reilly, American comic actor and game show regular
- Charles Reisner, American actor and film director
Art
Crime & Law Enforcement
Fictional
- Charles in Charge, American TV sitcom
- Charlie Brown, character from the Peanuts comic strip
- Charles Montgomery Burns, a character on The Simpsons
- Chuck E Cheese, mouse mascot for pizza chain of same name
- Chuckie Finster, character from the Nickelodeon animated television series' Rugrats and All Grown Up!
- Charles Foster Kane, character from the Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane
- Charles Gunn, main character of the TV show Angel
- Charlie Horse, one of Shari Lewis' puppets
- Charles Logan (24 character), a fictional character in the TV series 24
- Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen's 'partner' and headliner
- Chucky Pancamo, character from Oz played by Chuck Zito
- Charles Tucker III, fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise
- Charley Weaver, character of comedian Cliff Arquette
- Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, character on M*A*S*H
- Charles Xavier, character from X-Men
- Charles, character on the cartoon Duckman
- Charles, wrestler in Shakespeare's As You Like It
- Charles "Chachi" Arcola, character on Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi
- Charlie Bucket, title character on the children's novel, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
- Ensign Charles Parker (played by Tim Conway), on McHale's Navy
- Charles Palantine, character from the film Taxi Driver
- Charles Stewart, character from Mona Lisa Smile
Literature
- Charles Bukowski, American poet and novelist
- Charles Corkin, the writer of musical "Life"
- Charles Dickens, English novelist
- Charles Dodgson (pen-name: Lewis Carroll), English clergyman, writer and mathematician
- Charles G. Finney, novelist, author of The Circus of Dr. Lao
- Charles Henri Ford, American poet, photographer, and writer
- Charles Fort, American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena
- Charles Grant, American science-fiction author
- "Charles (short story)", a popular short story by Shirley Jackson
Music
- Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer, and composer
- Charlie Daniels, American country music figure
- Charlie Haden, American Jazz bassist and composer
- Charles Mingus, American Jazz bassist and composer
- Charlie Parker, American Jazz saxophonist
- Charles Schuldiner, American guitarist, singer, and composer
- Sean Charles Watkins, one-third of the progressive bluegrass band Nickel Creek
- Charlie Watts, English drummer for the rock group The Rolling Stones
- Charles William Robertson Esson, Scottish accorionist for the Scottish band The Garioch Blend
Political
- Charles Bent, first Governor of New Mexico Territory, assassinated in 1847
- Charles Joseph Bonaparte, former U. S. Attorney General
- Charles Bradlaugh, British political activist and militant atheist, founder of the National Secular Society
- Charles Colson, U.S. President Nixon's Chief Counsel, involved in the Watergate scandal
- Charles Magill Conrad, former American Secretary of War
- Charles Curtis, 31st American Vice President, under Herbert Hoover
- Charles G. Dawes, 30th American Vice President, under Calvin Coolidge
- Charles Devens, former U. S. Attorney General
- Charles de Gaulle, French military leader and statesman
- Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th American Vice President, under Theodore Roosevelt
- Charles A. Ford, American diplomat
- Charles Evans Hughes, former U. S. Secretary of State
- Charles Lee, former U. S. Attorney General
- Charles Pearson, former Solicitor for The City of London, and early railway advocate
- Chuck Robb, former Governor of Virginia & U.S. Senator
- Charlie Rose (congressman), American congressman (D, N.C.)
- Charles Scott (governor of Kentucky), also George Washington's Chief of Intelligence during the American Revolution
- Charles Taylor (Texas), signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence
- Charles G. Taylor, former president of Liberia
Religion
Science
- Charles Babbage, English mathematician, philosopher, mechanical engineer and computer scientist
- Charles L. Bennett, American astrophysicist
- Charles Best, one of the two men who discovered insulin
- Charles Darwin, British naturalist
- Charles Dawson, English archaeologist, involved in the Piltdown Man hoax
- Charles Thomas Jackson, American geologist
- Charles T. Kowal, American astronomer, discoverer of Chiron and 2 moons of Jupiter
- Othniel Charles Marsh, American paleontologist
- Edward Charles Pickering, American astronomer
- Charles Hazelius Sternberg, American fossil collector, involved in the Bone Wars
- Charles Mortram Sternberg, son of above, also a fossil collector & paleontologist
- Charles Tilly, American sociologist
- Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist
- Charles Wright Mills, American sociologist
Sports
Other people
- Charles McLean Andrews, American historian and professor
- Chuck Barris, American game show producer
- Charles Black, American constitutional law professor and jazz fan
- Charles Conrad, astronaut, 3rd man to walk on the moon
- Charles Floyd (explorer), only casualty of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Charles Furnas world's first airplane passenger
- Charles Gibson, American television journalist
- Chuck Jones, American animator
- Charles Kuralt, American television journalist
- Charles Lindbergh, first to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean
- "Lonesome" Charley Reynolds, U. S. Western scout
- Charlie Rose, American PBS TV interview show host
- Charlie Smith (centenarian) (died 1979), who claimed to be the oldest person in the United States
- Chuck Yeager, American test pilot. First man to break the sound barrier
Places
- Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts
- Charles, Providence, Rhode Island, a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island
- Charles Bridge in the Czech Republic
- Charles University in Prague
- Charleston, several places of this name, including:
- Charlestown, Massachusetts
- Charles Town, West Virginia
- Charles City, several places of this name
- Charles (crater), a lunar crater
Other things
See also
- Carl (name)
- Charley
- Charlie
- Charly (disambiguation)
- Chuck
- Charleston
- Charlestown
- Charles Anderson, for others by that name
- Charles Andrews,for others by that name
- Charles Brown, for others by that name
- Charles Clark, for others by that name
- Charles Floyd, for others by that name
- Charles Gibson (disambiguation), for others by that name
- Charles Jones, for others by that name
- Charles Miller, for others by that name
- Charles Nelson, for others by that name
- Charles Parker, for others by that name
- Charles Roberts, for others by that name
- Charles Robertson (disambiguation), for others by that name
- Charles Robinson (disambiguation), for others by that name
- Charles Scott, for others by that name
- Charles Smith, for others by that name
- Charles Stewart, for others by that name
- Charles Taylor, for others by that name
- Charles White, for others by that name
- charley horse
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
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