# Charity (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/charity/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | Cherry |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 35,557 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 39 / 35,518 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 163, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From charity in the Biblical sense of Christian love; first used by Puritans. In early Christian tradition, Faith, Hope and Charity were the martyred daughters of Saint Sophia. The names, taken from 1 Corinthians 13:13 ("And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity") have been translated and used in many languages. The name of the sura (chapter) is one of several translations of the original Arabic.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 310 | 848 |
| 2012 | 277 | 926 |
| 2013 | 261 | 965 |
| 2014 | 247 | 1,052 |
| 2015 | 206 | 1,209 |
| 2016 | 197 | 1,237 |
| 2017 | 197 | 1,221 |
| 2018 | 189 | 1,234 |
| 2019 | 184 | 1,261 |
| 2020 | 145 | 1,479 |
| 2021 | 134 | 1,570 |
| 2022 | 118 | 1,758 |
| 2023 | 118 | 1,741 |
| 2024 | 95 | 2,043 |
| 2025 | 97 | 1,981 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 8 | 4,004 |
| 1976 | 5 | 5,736 |
| 1978 | 5 | 5,941 |
| 1979 | 5 | 6,197 |
| 1981 | 6 | 5,614 |
| 1985 | 5 | 6,687 |
| 1986 | 5 | 6,891 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 13 | 1,442 |
| 2003 | 11 | 1,722 |
| 2004 | 6 | 2,802 |
| 2005 | 5 | 3,382 |
| 2006 | 7 | 2,781 |
| 2007 | 3 | 5,201 |
| 2008 | 4 | 4,524 |
| 2009 | 9 | 2,535 |
| 2010 | 8 | 2,843 |
| 2013 | 5 | 4,050 |
| 2014 | 3 | 5,691 |
| 2015 | 6 | 3,615 |
| 2017 | 3 | 5,765 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4,535 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5,927 |

## In other languages

- Finnish: Lempi
- Russian: Любовь
- Spanish: Caridad

## People named Charity

- Charity Wakefield, British actress
- Charity Williams, Canadian rugby sevens player
- Nicole Matthews, Canadian professional wrestler

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.