Charity (name)

Charity
"Caritas"
Gender	female
Origin
Word/Name	English via Latin
Meaning	charity
Region of origin	English-speaking countries

Charity is an English feminine given name derived from the English word charity. It was used by the Puritans as a virtue name. An earlier form of the name, Caritas, was an early Christian name in use by Romans.^[1]

Charity is also the usual English form of the name of Saint Charity, an early Christian child martyr, who was tortured to death with her sisters Faith and Hope. She is known as Agape in Biblical Greek and as Caritas in Church Latin and her name is translated differently in other languages.

Faith, Hope and Charity, the three theological virtues, are names traditionally given to triplet girls, just as Faith and Hope remain common names for twin girls. One example were the American triplets Faith, Hope and Charity Cardwell, who were born in 1899 in Texas and were recognized in 1994 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest lived triplets.^[2]

Charity has never been as popular a name in the United States as Faith or Hope. It ranked in the top 500 names for American girls between 1880 and 1898 and in the top 1,000 between 1880 and 1927, when it disappeared from the top 1,000 names until it reemerged among the top 1,000 names in 1968 at No. 968. It was most popular between 1973 and 1986, when it ranked among the top 300 names in the United States. It has since declined in popularity and was ranked at No. 876 in 2009.^[3]

This is a list of people and characters named Charity:

People

• Charity Adams, an army officer
• Charity Brown, a film actress and singer
• Charity Ngilu, a politician
• Charity Opara, a former athlete
• Charity Rahmer, an actress
• Charity Shea, an actress
• Charity Waciuma, a writer
• Charity Wakefield, an actress
• Charity Zisengwe, a singer
• Nicole Matthews, a professional wrestler, who has also performed under the ring name Charity

Fictional

• Charity Bazaar, a fictional character from the cartoon Histeria!
• Charity Burbage, character from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
• Charity Churchmouse, a fictional mouse
• Charity Hope Valentine, character in the musical comedy Sweet Charity
• Charity More, character in Claudia Gray's novel, Stargazer
• Charity Standish, a fictional soap opera character
• Charity Tate, a fictional soap opera character

Notes

1. ^ http://www.behindthename.com/name/charity
2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/07/garden/at-home-with-faith-hope-and-charity-285-years-young.html
3. ^ http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi