Charity

Charity is one of the Big Three abstract virtue names, along with Hope and Faith, though far less widely used than the others. But as Faith, Grace and Hope grow more common, some parents are beginning to look at the more unusual three-syllable choices like Verity, Amity, Clarity and Charity, which sound much fresher and also have that pleasingly rhythmic y-ending sound.

In the Dickens novel "Martin Chuzzlewit," there are two sisters named Charity and Mercy, but known as Cherry and Merry.

In the show and movie "Sweet Charity," the title character, Charity Hope Valentine, is an all two charitable girl with a heart of gold. In the novel "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Charity Burbage is a Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Now ranked at Number 852, Charity was in the Top 500 in the 1880's and 1890's, remained in the Top 1000 until 1927, then reappeared in 1968. For a period in the 1970's and eighties, Charity was a Top 300 name.