Name Awesome

Cha

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Free man, through Charlotte

Cha has been given to 290 babies in the U.S. since 1980. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1991, with 21 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 87% boys, 13% girls all-time.

Babies named Cha, 2006

1 in 565,000

Cha over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Cha over time

In 2006, Cha went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19752006

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Cha: meaning, origin, and history

Free man, through Charlotte

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cha means

Cha belongs to the name family reached through Cha → Charlotte → Charles. Its meaning is “free man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Cha is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Charlotte and Charles.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 253 boys were recorded with the name Cha between 1980 and 2006. Its highest annual count was 21 in 1991; its best national rank was #2,850 in 1987.

In the United States, 37 girls were recorded with the name Cha between 1975 and 1995. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1982; its best national rank was #7,577 in 1982.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Cha?

Cha had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2006, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2006
1 in 565,000
7 of 3,956,166 births
Among boys only
1 in 294,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2006
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
391,745 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cha sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2006 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 391,745 children born in 2006 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cha. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cha was born before 1991 — so the typical Cha is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
48.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
90.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
253
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 48.2% of all recorded uses (122).

Is Cha rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1991 (21)
Years since peak
34
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
40.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,850
1987

Where Cha is used

Across 1910–2025, Cha was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 238,504 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Minnesota1 in —
  3. 3Wisconsin1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cha has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cha by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,850
1987
Peak year
1991
21 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2006
All-time count
253
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,577
1982
Peak year
1982
8 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
1995
All-time count
37
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cha

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ChaiChaosChaoChanChaelChayChanzeChaeChapelChanzChasynChakaCharmChauChangChazeChaneChawnChampChazzChananChadwinChasChaun

Sibling names for Cha

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cha

Top names of 1991, Cha's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1987Boys' names starting with C