what is the meaning of Charles?

Answer 1

Sorry this will be a bit long... but if you want to get good answer to questions about the meaning of names you need to know which sources and sites you can trust... so I'll try to point out why certain sites are NOT good sources.

In general, I do not trust the meanings given in the "baby name" sites. Some are correct, same are way off! Too much sloppy work and failture to co-ordinate related forms to rely on them.

One evidence of unreliability is this -- If you check out the "name-meanings" and "babyname" sites mentioned above and search for the list of names below --ALL of which are derived from the same Germanic name ("Karl"), you will find meanings that have nothing to do with each other!

Charles, Carl, Karl, Carlos
Carla, Carlotta, Charlotte, Charlene
Carol, Caroline
(there are others, but they are unlikely to appear in English)

Esp. laughable is what happens when you choose one of the FEMININE forms. Some may properly say "from Charles", but others end up as "melody" (for "Carol" -- but this is NOT the meaning of the NAME!), "feminine", "beautiful woman", etc.

Now it IS true that since "carol" is a word for a type of song or hymn, people MAY choose the name for that meaning, and say it means that. No problem there, even if that's not the way the name originally came about... language is like that! But in any case the names do NOT mean "feminine" or "beautiful".

Also, since names, like other words, can change meaning over time, some variation is understandable. (Thus the negative word "churl" is derived from "Carl", but that does not mean the name Carl has that meaning.)

But that's not what's going on with the baby books and baby-name sites. They are often trying to make the names sounds interesting and attractive (telling a girl her name is a feminine form of "man" or "warrior" may not be well received!) But in the process they are often far from correct!

On the other hand I have found "behindthename.com" to avoid such sloppiness. They try to present the most reliable info they can. For a cluster of names, ALL the names will eventually take you to one main entry that explains the derivation and meaning. In this case all the names listed above end up at the "Charles" article.

So we discover that there is a bit of uncertainty/debate about whether the name simply means "man" (or in some cultures a particular status of man, such as a "free man") OR is from a Germanic root "heri" for "war", hence meaning "warrior" (the sort of name used quite often in Germanic cultures).

By the way "farmer" is not very helpful here. It may be that in some societies the typical work of the "(free)man" was as a farmer, but that does not mean this word itself MEANS "farmer".

Wikipedia's article on the name is also quite good, and adds a bit of history and a hint at how the name could be related to status in society (which may make it difficult to fully translate, since our societies do not have that same structure)

So, check out the details at these two links:
http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?nmd=n&terms=charles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_(name)
(which includes a nice list of masculine and feminine forms as well as surnames)

Answer 2

Three different definitions with sources given below,
In a general sense it means 'Manly'.

Charles means Free Man and originated from German.
Source : http://www.babynames.com/Names/name_display.php?n=CHARLES

Derived from Germanic 'Karl' >> which meant "man".
Also believed to be derived from Germanic element 'heri' meaning "army, warrior".
Source: http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?nmd=n&terms=charles

Means:- Manly, Farmer
Source: http://www.name-meanings.com/search.php

Have a nice day...
☺☺☺

Answer 3

Err well Mrs. G perhaps he meant that he, Prince Charles, could give Camilla a few tips from the contortionist's actions so that they could try different positions together - if you know what I mean!!!!

Answer 4

Charles who?
What did he say?

Answer 5

king,royal or ruler