Head to head · Boys' names
Archie vs Ares
#301 vs #290 in 2025
Ares is a whisker ahead (#290 vs #301 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ares is climbing the charts fast, Archie is back after a long quiet spell.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Archie and Ares each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Archie #88, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1890s: Archie #90, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1900s: Archie #108, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1910s: Archie #138, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1920s: Archie #162, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1930s: Archie #191, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1940s: Archie #235, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1950s: Archie #311, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1960s: Archie #418, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1970s: Archie #542, Ares — — Archie higher
- 1980s: Archie #781, Ares #6238 — Archie higher
- 1990s: Archie #1386, Ares #4807 — Archie higher
- 2000s: Archie #1974, Ares #2975 — Archie higher
- 2010s: Archie #1403, Ares #880 — Ares higher
- 2020s: Archie #371, Ares #432 — Archie higher
Archie stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Archie took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Archie | Ares |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #88 | — |
| 1890s | #90 | — |
| 1900s | #108 | — |
| 1910s | #138 | — |
| 1920s | #162 | — |
| 1930s | #191 | — |
| 1940s | #235 | — |
| 1950s | #311 | — |
| 1960s | #418 | — |
| 1970s | #542 | — |
| 1980s | #781 | #6238 |
| 1990s | #1386 | #4807 |
| 2000s | #1974 | #2975 |
| 2010s | #1403 | #880 |
| 2020s | #371 | #432 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Archie
- Scotland#8
- England & Wales#10
Ares
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Archie
genuinely bold
From the Germanic ercan, meaning genuine, precious or unfeigned, and bald, bold or brave. The compound reached Britain through Norman French and became particularly Scottish — the Campbells and the Douglases both used it heavily, which is why it reads as Highland even though the elements are continental.
Ercanbald → Archibald → Archie
How it traveled
Archibald was among the standard Scottish men's names for six centuries, and Archie went with it. The short form crossed to America in the nineteenth century and was well used until about 1930, after which it went quiet for two generations.
Ares
Linked to Greek words for battle and ruin
The usual reading connects Ἄρης to the Greek noun arē, 'bane, ruin, curse,' and to a sense of 'battle strife' — the god's name as a plain word for what war does. Other scholars treat it as pre-Greek and unexplained, a divine name inherited by the Greeks rather than built from their own vocabulary. Both positions are seriously held.
Ἄρης (Ancient Greek) → Ares (Latin form) → Άρης / Áris (Modern Greek) → Ares (English, Spanish)
How it traveled
Ares belongs to the oldest layer of Greek religion, and the name appears in Greek texts from the Homeric poems onward, where he is the war god — quarrelsome, disliked by the other Olympians, and no one's favorite. The Romans matched him to their own Mars, but the Greek form stayed Greek, and it survives in modern Greece as Áris, a living given name rather than a museum piece.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Archie
AR-chee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Nothing about the spelling causes any English speaker difficulty in any country.
- Arch — The name without its ending; plain, firm, and used by friends rather than family.
- Archibald — The full name behind it; formal, Scottish, and available at any point without a legal change.
Ares
AIR-eez
AIR-eez is the English pronunciation, from the mythology. In Spanish the same spelling is said AH-res, with both syllables short and the stress on the first — worth deciding early, since both versions are in real use in the US and each side will assume the other.
- Ari — The most natural short form in English, and a standalone given name in its own right through Hebrew and Greek lines.
- Aris — The standard Greek form of the full name; used informally in English-speaking families as a slightly longer alternative to Ari.
- Rey / Res — Heard in Spanish-speaking households as a clipped, informal form; not established in wider use.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Archie if you want…
- a name fewer children share#301 in 2025 — archie will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name with more sound in itArchie runs 2 syllables, Ares 1
- a name that charts abroad tooArchie is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
- a long American recordArchie was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Ares if you want…
- a name most people already know#290 in 2025, 1,157 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 305 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesAres is 1 syllable to Archie's 2
- a newer arrivalAres entered the US charts in 1983
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Archie
Strengths
- It is warm and short without being childish, which few diminutives manage.
- Archibald sits behind it as a formal option with real Scottish history.
- It currently charts in three countries at once, which very few names do.
To consider
- It is rising quickly in Britain and beginning to here, so a boy will meet others of his age.
- For older Americans the name belongs to a comic-book character and a sitcom patriarch, in that order.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the record's girls are very few.
Ares
Strengths
- Five letters, spelled exactly as it sounds in both English and Spanish — no silent letters, no alternate spellings competing for attention.
- A documented record stretching back to the earliest Greek literature, unbroken as a name in Greece itself.
- Ari is a ready-made short form that already stands alone as a name, so there is a softer everyday option built in.
To consider
- It will be heard as Aries, the zodiac sign, constantly — in roll calls, on the phone, at the doctor's office. Expect a lifetime of gentle correcting, and note that the two words are genuinely close in English speech.
- The god himself gets a bad press in the Greek sources: Homer's Olympians find him brutal and tiresome. Most people only remember 'god of war,' but anyone who reads further finds an unflattering character.
- The pronunciation splits by language, so a child may answer to AIR-eez at school and AH-res at home. That works fine for many families, but it is worth choosing which one you will correct people to.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Archie
30%chance Archie feels dated by 2040
Archie is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
Ares
58%chance Ares feels dated by 2040
Ares is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Archie and Ares in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Archie and Ares?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Scottish gems the US hasn't discovered
- all guides
Where Archie and Ares each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Archie or Ares — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Archie or Ares?
- Ares, in 2025: Ares ranked #290 with 1,157 babies; Archie ranked #301 with 1,129 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Archie or Ares?
- Ares. Over the last five years Archie moved up 167 places; Ares moved up 305 places.
- Which is the older name, Archie or Ares?
- Archie was already in use when US records began in 1880; Ares entered the US charts in 1983. On the American record, Archie is the older name.
- How many people are named Archie and Ares?
- About 23,000 people named Archie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 8,200 people named Ares are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Archies or Aress in the classroom?
- Archie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ares will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Archie, Ares and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap