Charles
A surname taken from the personal name Charles, ultimately from a Germanic word meaning “free man.”
The #548 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,044 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Charles is chiefly a surname formed from the familiar given name Charles. That personal name came into English through Old French, and ultimately from a Germanic root often linked with the sense of “free man” or simply “man.” In surname use, it usually began as a patronymic or as an inherited family name from someone called Charles.
History
Lower explicitly notes Charles as a baptismal name used as a surname in England, and later surname dictionaries treat it in the same straightforward way. The name is common in areas shaped by French and English naming practice, especially in Britain and the English-speaking world. It also spread widely as a family name in places influenced by Christian given names, including the Caribbean and North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Charles was such a common royal and saintly given name, it generated a large cluster of related surnames and place-names such as Charlton, Charlesworth, and Charley.
From the historical record
“CHARLES WAREING BARDSLEY, M.A. WOKCBSTBK COLLEGE, OXFORD LATS VlCAk OF ULVIKSTON, LANCS., AND HONORARY CANON OF CAKUSLG CATHEDRAL AUTHOR op 'BKCUSH SDKHAUKS, THEIR SOWBCES A REVISED FOR THE PRESS BY HIS WIDOW fiondon HENRY FROWDE”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances