Charlotte

Charlotte is an elegant royal name, with a host of widely varied role models, from Charlotte Bronte to the spidery Charlotte of E. B. White's Web to the more recent Charlotte York, aka the prissy one, of Sex and the City. Charlotte is appealing to a wide range of parents because it sounds feminine yet grownup, sophisticated yet lush.

England's Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III who ruled in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was the mother of fifteen children and a patron of Mozart and Bach. Charlotte and George ruled England during the French and American revolutions; Charlotte was called "The Mulatto Queen" and was rumored to have African ancestry, a claim that American abolitionists used to support their cause.

An all-around winner of a name, Charlotte was recently chosen by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. Nameberry favorite Charlotte, the Number 1 name among our users in 2010, is climbing in popularity on the overall charts.