Chares

Boys' name

Grace, kindness

Chares has been given to 69 babies in the U.S. since 1939. 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 1961, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Chares, 1975

1 in 604,000

Chares over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Chares: meaning, origin, and history

Grace, kindness

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Chares means

Chares means “grace, kindness”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Chares is used in Ancient Greek.

Another recorded pronunciation is /kʰá.rɛːs/ for Chares.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 69 boys were recorded with the name Chares between 1939 and 1975. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1961; its best national rank was #2,738 in 1961.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Chares?

Chares had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1975, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1975: 1 in 604,000; 5 of 3,019,126 births
Among boys only: 1 in 312,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1975: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 418,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Chares 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 1975 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 418,541 children born in 1975 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chares. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Charess were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Chares was born before 1960 — so the typical Chares is around 65 today.

Median birth year: 1960; About 65 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 50.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 66.7%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 53; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 50.7% of all recorded uses (35).

Is Chares 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 1961 (10)
Years since peak: 64; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 32.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,738; 1961

Spellings of Chares

Chares is not the most common spelling — Charles is, with 85.2% against Chares's <0.01%.

Charles85.2%2,434,659
Chase6.3%181,160
Chris5.2%147,462
Charley0.84%23,974
Hayes0.73%20,925
Carey0.59%16,880
Ares0.29%8,284
Chace0.19%5,405

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Chares 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: #2,738; 1961
Peak year: 1961; 10 that year
First recorded: 1939
Last recorded: 1975
All-time count: 69
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Chares

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

Chalres Charis Chaske Chanan Charm Chasyn Chapel Chaska Charvik Charod Chanel Chanoch Chavon Charming Chaos Chanze Chadwin Charan Chaden Chayim Chananya Chante Charli Challen

Sibling names for Chares

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

For a sister

Jeanetta Juli Mimi Juliann Danita Lorri Donita Jannette

For a brother

Mitch Art Toney Lenny Lindsay Tod Ward Rod

Explore around Chares

Top names of 1961, Chares's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1961 Boys' names starting with C