Entry № 1913 · Latin origin

Charity Charity — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ CHAIR-ih-tee /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Latin
Meaning
"Christian love, charity"
Syllables
3
First recorded
17th c. (English Puritan)

A name that means "christian love, charity".

Charity comes from the Old French charite, from the Latin caritas, meaning "Christian love" or "generosity to the needy." It is the third theological virtue alongside Faith and Hope (1 Corinthians 13).

Charity has been used in English since the medieval period as a virtue name, becoming popular among Puritans in the 17th century. Today it sits in the U.S.

Christian love. The third theological virtue.

The name in its native script.

Charity
Transliteration
Charity
Pronunciation
/ ˈtʃær.ɪ.ti /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Charity stands.

Charity does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Charitys before her.

Real people
Charity Wakefield
British actress.
born 1980
In fiction
Charity Hope Valentine
Heroine of the musical Sweet Charity.
1966 musical

Names connected to Charity.

The number behind Charity.

3

The Communicator

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Charity reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.