Charlotte

See also: charlotte

English

Etymology

From French Charlotte in the 17th century, female diminutive form of Charles, from Middle High German Karl, which came from the Germanic *karlaz.

The civil parish is named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744 - 1818). Coined by British-Dutch surveyor Samuel Holland.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General South African) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑːlət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑɹlət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand, Boston) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaːlət/
• (Scotland, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɹlət/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)lət

Proper noun

Charlotte

1. A female given name from French.
   • 1852 August, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 117:

     My Charlotte conquers with a smile, / And reigneth queen of love.
     In the home-circle and among her companions, Charlotte lays aside her queenship and becomes a gentle Lottie.

   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VII, in Adam Bede […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     "Here's Totty! By-and-by, what's her other name? She wasn't christened Totty." "Oh, sir, we call her sadly out of name. Charlotte's her christened name. It's a name i' Mr. Poyser's family; his grandmother was named Charlotte. But we began calling her Lotty, and now it's got to Totty. To be sure it's more like a name for a dog than a Christian child."

   • 2007, Sophie Hannah, Hurting Distance, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 225:

     'Can I call you Charlotte?'
     'No. I hate the name, makes me sound like a Victorian aunt. I'm Charlie, and no, you can't call me that either.'

2. A civil parish of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. [From 1765]
3. A city, the county seat of Eaton County, Michigan, United States.
4. The largest city in North Carolina, United States and the county seat of Mecklenburg County.
5. A town, the county seat of Dickson County, Tennessee, United States.
6. University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Derived terms

• Charlotte County
• Charlotte Court House
• Charlottesville

Translations

female given name

• Arabic: شَارْلُوت (šārlūt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 夏洛特 (zh) (Xiàluòtè)

• Czech: Šarlota
• Danish: Charlotte
• Finnish: Lotta (fi)
• French: Charlotte (fr)
• German: Charlotte (de)
• Greek: Σάρλοτ (el) (Sárlot) (transliteration from English)
• Greenlandic: Sialoorta, Sika
• Hawaiian: Halaki
• Hungarian: Sarolta (hu)
• Icelandic: Charlotta (is), Karlotta (is), Lotta (is)
• Italian: Carlotta (it) f
• Japanese: シャーロット (shārotto)
• Latvian: Šarlote f
• Maori: Hārata
• Marathi: शार्लट f (śārlaṭ)
• Norwegian: Charlotte (no)
• Polish: Szarlota (pl)
• Portuguese: Carlota (pt)
• Russian: Шарло́тта (ru) f (Šarlótta)
• Spanish: Carlota (es)
• Swedish: Charlotta (sv)

Noun

Charlotte (plural Charlottes)

1. (historical) Designating a type of women's bonnet popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
   • 1764 Sep, The Scots Magazine:

     The Charlotte bonnet, form'd to please, / And Strelitz coif she wore with ease.

   • 1819 Apr, La Belle Assemblée:

     the Charlotte bonnet, from the Sorrows of Werther, was the most becoming and elegantly retired bonnet ever yet sported for walking.

   • 1968, Gisèle d'Assailly, Ages of Elegance:

     Women now resembled well-rounded cabbages from which protruded a tiny head crushed beneath a Charlotte hat covered with plumes and gew-gaws.

Danish

Etymology

From French Charlotte.

Proper noun

Charlotte

1. a female given name

Related terms

• Lotte
• Liselotte

References

• [1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 33 806 females with the given name Charlotte have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1960s. Accessed on 19 May 2011.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁ.lɔt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Charlotte f

1. a female given name; a feminine diminutive form of Charles

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French Charlotte and charlotte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁˈlɔtə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Charlotte f (proper noun, genitive Charlottes or Charlotte, plural Charlottes)

1. a female given name from French; variant forms Lotte, Lieselotte, Liselotte
2. The digraph ⟨Ch⟩ in the German spelling alphabet.

Declension

Declension of Charlotte [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Charlotte	die	Charlottes
genitive	einer	der	Charlottes, Charlotte	der	Charlottes
dative	einer	der	Charlotte	den	Charlottes
accusative	eine	die	Charlotte	die	Charlottes

Noun

Charlotte f (genitive Charlotte, plural Charlotten)

1. charlotte (dessert consisting of sponge cake filled with fruit)

Declension

Declension of Charlotte [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Charlotte	die	Charlotten
genitive	einer	der	Charlotte	der	Charlotten
dative	einer	der	Charlotte	den	Charlotten
accusative	eine	die	Charlotte	die	Charlotten

Further reading

• “Charlotte” in Duden online
• “Charlotte” in Duden online

Norwegian

Proper noun

Charlotte

1. a female given name of French origin. Diminutive: Lotte

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɧaˈɭot/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Charlotte c (genitive Charlottes)

1. a female given name of French origin

Related terms

• Charlotta, Lotta