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 [ 3 syll. (c)ha-ri-ty, ch-ar-ity ] The girl name Charity is pronounced CHEHRahTiy KEY. Charity is of Latin and English origin, and it is used mainly in English. Latin and English origin: From charity ; caritas which means 'charity' ; carus which means 'dear'. Caritas (Latin) is an original form of the name. The name is derived from the English word, which is of the Latin word caritas ('charity') and ultimately carus ('dear'). It implies a Christian's love for fellow men; Charity is held up in the New Testament as the greatest of the three Christian virtues, together with Faith and Hope. It was therefore one of the 'virtue' names adopted by English Puritans in the 17th century. In literature, it appeared as the name of the character Charity Pecksniff, nicknamed Cherry, in the Charles Dickens novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844). Variations of Charity include Chariety (English) and Charita (Latinized and Spanish). Charity is an English variation of Caritas (German and Italian). The pet forms Chattie (English) and Cherry (English), and the spelling variants Chairity (English), Charidy (English), Chariti (English), and Cherity (English) are other forms of the name. Charity is an all-time favorite. Currently it is still somewhat popular as a baby name for girls, though it was in more widespread use in the past. The name's popularity grew from the 1960s up to the 1970s. Its usage peaked in 1975 with 0.091% of baby girls being named Charity. It ranked at #183 then. The baby name has since experienced a decline in popularity. In 2008, it ranked at #793 with a usage of 0.018%, but it was nevertheless the most popular among all girl names in its group. Baby names that sound like Charity include Chairity (English), Cherity (English), Chariti (English), Cherida (English), Cherith (English), Cheryth (English), Cerrita (English), Charidy (English), Cherette (English), Cherritta (English), and Chariety (English). KEY: Pronunciation for Charity: CH as in "cheese (CH.IY.Z)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
