Charles Is Not in the Bible — Its Root Means “Man”



  • Charles is not in the Bible. It comes through Latin Carolus from Germanic Karl, meaning “man” — with the free-man sense arriving later. Charlotte, Caroline and Carla are the same word.
  • It spread across Europe because of Charlemagne and has been a royal name since.
  • Charles Borromeo stayed in Milan through the plague of 1576, organised food for tens of thousands, and walked through streets where people were dying.
  • Charles Wesley wrote around six thousand hymns; Charles Spurgeon preached through decades of illness and spoke openly in print about his depression.
  • What they share is not eloquence but staying. Scripture’s word is hupomone — remaining under a weight — and Paul’s summary is two verbs about not stopping: “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Charles is not in the Bible. It comes through the Latin Carolus from the Germanic Karl, a word that meant man — and, in its later medieval sense, a free man rather than a serf. Charlotte, Caroline and Carla are all the same word. What is different about Charles is the company it has kept: it is one of the great preachers’ names. What does the name Charles mean? Man. Not king, not warrior, not noble — though the name…

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