Charlotte Braun is a minor female character from the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. Her name is a corruption of Charlie Brown's.

History

Charlotte's first appearance was on November 30, 1954. She was introduced as a female counterpart to Charlie Brown (a role later taken up by Sally). Charlotte has a very dominating personality, complete with obnoxious, loud-mouthed voice. She usually appears with Violet. She denies having anything in common with her wishy-washy near namesake, forcing Charlie Brown to shout in one strip, "You don't have to be so insistent!"

Charlotte's life in the strip was very short-lived. She made only a handful of appearances, the last of which was on February 1, 1955; a victim of being an under-used supporting character with limited comic potential. Her bossy, loudmouthed traits survived, however, in the form of Lucy, who gained much storyline potential after her personality was changed in the mid-1950s (until that time Lucy had functioned as a wide-eyed child of wonder).

In 2000, it was revealed that a Peanuts fan named Elizabeth Swaim wrote to Schulz, requesting him to remove Charlotte Braun from the strip. Schulz replied that he would be willing to do so but said that the person who wrote to him would be responsible for "the death of an innocent child". Schulz concluded the letter with a picture of Charlotte Braun with an ax in her head. The letter is now in the United States Library of Congress.

Some strips which featured Charlotte Braun were included in the 2001 book, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz . All strips featuring the character were finally reproduced in 2004 and 2005 in the second and third volumes of The Complete Peanuts.