Humanverse

Chad vs Charls

American parents have registered 241,767 Chads since 1880, against 722 Charlses. Chad is still ahead, with 96 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Chad against Charls, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Chad Charls

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 117 years in which either name was published, Chad for 93 years and Charls for 24 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Chad Charls
Total US births 241,767722
Most in one year 13,44124
Babies in 2025 96under 5
Estimated living today 222,000200
Median age today 4670
Peak year 19721932
Best rank 25th boys1,426th boys
Rank in 2025 1,699thunranked
First recorded 19141886
Girls / boys 1,039 / 240,7280 / 722

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Charlses alive today are over 70; half the Chads are over 46. That is 24 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Chad and Charls.