Certain mixed first names that were considered rather masculine tend to become more feminine and appear in other versions, such as this masculine first name, which, over time, is more attributed to little girls.
Mixed first names are very popular with young parents and increasingly trendy. Some first names are written the same way in feminine and masculine forms, such as Eden, Camille, Andrea or Sasha, others adapt their spelling according to gender, such as Maël(le), Axel(le), Adel(e), Raphaël(le) or even Noa(h). What is more surprising is that certain first names, long considered to be masculine first names, tend to become more feminine, in derivative versions which are emerging. Over the years, they even change gender and are more attributed to little girls than to boys. This is the case of the first name Charles, of Germanic origin and meaning “strength”, which has long been worn by kings of France, England and other European countries.
Throughout history, the first name Charles has been worn by powerful men, starting with Charles Martel, founder of the Carolingians in the 1st century, but also by kings of France such as Charles VI, Charles VII, Charles VIII, Charles IX and Charles We can also cite General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) who helped make this first name reign among boys.
But his version Charlie is made known by the essential actor and director Charlie Chaplin. “A handful of French people were born for the first time under this name in 1917. but it was not until the death of the actor that this first name emerged, in 1977, specify Stéphanie Rapoport and Claire Tabarly Perrin in the Official First Names 2024 (First editions). A little later, in 1987, the “Where’s Waldo” books revived the attraction for this mixed first name and we saw a real peak among boys at the time of the success of the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Tim Burton, adapted from the novel by Roald Dahl. Finally, Charly surpasses the first name Charles in number of births and doubled in 2009, particularly since Charlie Winston’s hit “Like a Hobo”.
This is how the first name Charlie replaced the first name Charles. But who would have imagined that this first name would become predominantly feminine as was the case from 2012? Indeed, “The first name Charlie is today the 101st most given female first name in France since the year 2000. This first name is given to nearly one girl in 170 (compared to one boy in 460) today. Charly, in 146th rank, is attributed to a boy over 370″, specifies the First Name Official. A mixed first name that has become predominantly feminine: in France, 70% of Charlies are girls today. Despite the drop in popularity of the first name Charlie since the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015, both among girls and boys with 50% fewer births), this first name continues to progress in recent years, rising to the top 20 women’s national.