Charu

Girls' name

To desire, to wish, through चारु

Charu has been given to 12 babies in the U.S. since 1976. 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 1977, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Charu, 1977

1 in 454,000

Charu over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Charu: meaning, origin, and history

To desire, to wish, through चारु

Sanskrit

What Charu means

Charu belongs to the name family reached through Charu → चारु → चारु. Its meaning is “to desire, to wish”.

Origin, language, and formation

Charu is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Charu comes through Hindi चारु.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include च and चारु.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12 girls were recorded with the name Charu between 1976 and 1977. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1977; its best national rank was #7,676 in 1977.

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 Charu?

Charu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1977, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1977: 1 in 454,000; 7 of 3,176,294 births
Among girls only: 1 in 219,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1977: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 314,521 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Charu 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 1977 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 314,521 children born in 1977 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Charu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Charus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Charu was born before 1977 — so the typical Charu is around 48 today.

Median birth year: 1977; About 48 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 12; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (12).

Is Charu 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 1977 (7)
Years since peak: 48; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #7,676; 1977

Spellings of Charu

Charu is not the most common spelling — Clara is, with 49.1% against Charu's <0.01%.

Clara49.1%300,524
Cara8.7%53,305
Shari6.7%40,927
Cheri5.9%36,068
Ciara5.7%34,876
Clare5.1%31,456
Chaya2.6%15,674
Chana2.3%13,921

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.

Charu 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: #7,676; 1977
Peak year: 1977; 7 that year
First recorded: 1976
Last recorded: 1977
All-time count: 12
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Charu

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

Chavah Charmi Chaun Chata Chama Chaina Chali Chary Chaim Charea Chang Chada Chare Chave Chais Chazz Chavi Chas Charme Chakka Chaska Chalie Chanai Chakya

Sibling names for Charu

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

Jason Kevin Sommer Tamar Salina Jamila Shanta Lashonda

For a brother

Torrey Tory Aric Rodrick Delvin Andrea Jamey Donny

Explore around Charu

Top names of 1977, Charu's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1977 Girls' names starting with C