Charles

name

Etymology: From French Charles, from Old French Charles, Carles, from Latin Carolus, from and also reinfluenced by Frankish and Old High German Karl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl. In reference to the Ecuadorian island, a clipping of the original name King Charles's Island, granted in honor of Charles II of England.

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.

   “Charles the Great / Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French / Beyond the river Sala, in the year / Eight hundred five.”

   “[…] there never was any person named Charles who was not an open, manly, honest, good-natured, and frank-hearted fellow, with a rich, clear, voice, that did you good to hear it, and an eye that looked at you always straight at the face, as much as to say: "I have a clear conscience myself, am afraid of no man, and am altogether above doing a mean action." And thus all the hearty, careless, 'walking gentlemen' of the stage are very certain to be called Charles.”

2. A surname originating as a patronymic.
3. A hamlet in Brayford parish, North Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS6832).
4. A neighbourhood of Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
5. Synonym of Floreana: an island of Galapagos, Ecuador.