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

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 belonged to emperors. Proto-Germanic karlaz meant a man, and possibly a free one; a second reading connects it to an element meaning army.

It spread across Europe because of Charles the Great, Charlemagne, and it has been a royal name ever since. Carlos, Carlo, Karl and Kaarle are the same name.

Is Charles in the Bible?

No — in no language and no spelling, and there is no Hebrew form. Germanic names lie many centuries beyond the close of Scripture.

Its Christian weight comes from men who used it well.

Three men called Charles

Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan in the sixteenth century, stayed in the city through the plague of 1576 when others left. He organised food for tens of thousands, sold what he had, and walked in procession through streets where people were dying. He is remembered for the staying.

Charles Wesley wrote something in the region of six thousand hymns. Most of what English-speaking Christians sing at Christmas and Easter came out of his pen — the words themselves, working quietly on people who have no idea whose they are.

Charles Spurgeon preached in London to enormous crowds, founded a pastors’ college and an orphanage, and spoke openly about the depression that dogged him all his life. That last detail is why he is still read: a famous preacher who admitted, in print, that he could not always get out of bed.

What they have in common

Not eloquence, though two of them had it in abundance.

They stayed. Borromeo stayed in a plague city. Wesley stayed at a desk for fifty years writing verses, most of which nobody remembers. Spurgeon stayed in a pulpit through decades of illness and public criticism.

Scripture is oddly uninterested in brilliance and deeply interested in endurance. The word it keeps using is hupomone — remaining under a weight rather than getting out from under it. It is translated patience, or perseverance, and neither is quite right.

Paul’s own summary of his life is not a list of achievements. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finished. Kept. Two verbs about not stopping.

A blessing for Charles

May we be ordinary — which is the actual meaning of the name and a considerable relief.

May we stay where we have been put, for longer than is comfortable.

And may whatever we make, most of which will be forgotten, be worth somebody singing once.

Related reading

• Charlotte Is Not in the Bible — and It Does Not Mean “Free”
• Caroline Is Not in the Bible — but Junia Is
• Carla Is Not in the Bible — Its Root Simply Means “Man”

Related reading

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names