Name Awesome

Charon

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Possibly fierce brightness

Charon has been given to 1,217 babies in the U.S. since 1937. 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 1973, with 29 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 82% girls, 18% boys all-time.

Babies named Charon, 2008

1 in 786,000

Charon over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Charon over time

In 2013, Charon went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19372013

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.

Charon: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly fierce brightness

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Charon means

Charon may mean “fierce brightness”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Charon is used in Greek Mythology.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈkɛɹ.ən/ for Charon.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,001 girls were recorded with the name Charon between 1937 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 29 in 1973; its best national rank was #2,164 in 1943.

In the United States, 216 boys were recorded with the name Charon between 1970 and 2013. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1990; its best national rank was #3,483 in 1973.

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.

How common is Charon?

Charon had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008
1 in 786,000
5 of 3,930,727 births
Among girls only
1 in 378,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2008
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
544,916 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Charon sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2008 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 544,916 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Charon. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Charons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Charon was born before 1971 — so the typical Charon is around 54 today.

Median birth year
1971
About 54 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
22.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
21.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
840
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 22.0% of all recorded uses (220).

Is Charon 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 1973 (29)
Years since peak
52
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,164
1943

Spellings of Charon

Charon is not the most common spelling — Carol is, with 48.8% against Charon's 0.06%.

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.

Where Charon is used

Across 1910–2025, Charon was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 544,609 across all states with data. It was least common in Illinois (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Charon has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Charon around the world

Where Charon ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    1947–1988
    #657
    in 1988

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Charon by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,164
1943
Peak year
1973
29 that year
First recorded
1937
Last recorded
2008
All-time count
1,001
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,483
1973
Peak year
1990
13 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2013
All-time count
216
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Charon

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

CharronChanieChayseChaneyChanceCharnaCharaCharlyCharmCharviChanyChaniChavyChapelChaylaCharlynChanteChannaChantaCharleaCharisCharylCharishChasidy

Sibling names for Charon

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 Charon

Top names of 1973, Charon's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1943Girls' names starting with C