Head to head · Boys' names
Arthur vs Jeremiah
#87 vs #88 in 2025
Arthur is a whisker ahead (#87 vs #88 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Arthur is back after a long quiet spell, Jeremiah is stepping back from its peak.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Arthur leads 4 measures of 6; Jeremiah leads 1.
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: Arthur #14, Jeremiah #275 — Arthur higher
- 1890s: Arthur #14, Jeremiah #324 — Arthur higher
- 1900s: Arthur #16, Jeremiah #425 — Arthur higher
- 1910s: Arthur #17, Jeremiah #542 — Arthur higher
- 1920s: Arthur #20, Jeremiah #555 — Arthur higher
- 1930s: Arthur #28, Jeremiah #544 — Arthur higher
- 1940s: Arthur #35, Jeremiah #563 — Arthur higher
- 1950s: Arthur #57, Jeremiah #577 — Arthur higher
- 1960s: Arthur #92, Jeremiah #670 — Arthur higher
- 1970s: Arthur #128, Jeremiah #234 — Arthur higher
- 1980s: Arthur #165, Jeremiah #108 — Jeremiah higher
- 1990s: Arthur #254, Jeremiah #147 — Jeremiah higher
- 2000s: Arthur #351, Jeremiah #79 — Jeremiah higher
- 2010s: Arthur #293, Jeremiah #57 — Jeremiah higher
- 2020s: Arthur #130, Jeremiah #87 — Jeremiah higher
Arthur stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Jeremiah has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Arthur | Jeremiah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #14 | #275 |
| 1890s | #14 | #324 |
| 1900s | #16 | #425 |
| 1910s | #17 | #542 |
| 1920s | #20 | #555 |
| 1930s | #28 | #544 |
| 1940s | #35 | #563 |
| 1950s | #57 | #577 |
| 1960s | #92 | #670 |
| 1970s | #128 | #234 |
| 1980s | #165 | #108 |
| 1990s | #254 | #147 |
| 2000s | #351 | #79 |
| 2010s | #293 | #57 |
| 2020s | #130 | #87 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Arthur
- England & Wales#4
- France#7
- Canada#18
- Scotland#19
Jeremiah
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
Arthur
Not established
The name has no agreed source. A Roman family name, a Celtic word for a bear and an Irish personal name have all been proposed, and none can be shown. For a name this famous, that is a remarkable gap.
Arthur
How it traveled
The literary Arthur was assembled in stages, and each stage added something that now feels original. A Welsh list gives him battles; a twelfth-century Latin history gives him a biography and an empire; Wace, writing in Norman French shortly after, gives him the Round Table; a French poet a generation later gives him Lancelot and the affair.
Jeremiah
From Hebrew Yirmeyahu, most often read as "Yahweh will exalt"
The second half of the name is clearly the divine name Yah. The first element is the argument: most scholars take it from a root meaning to raise or exalt, giving "Yahweh will exalt" or "Yahweh lifts up"; others read it as "Yahweh throws" or "Yahweh establishes/appoints". All three readings keep God as the subject.
Yirmeyahu → Ieremias → Jeremias → Jeremy → Jeremiah
How it traveled
The name belongs first to the Hebrew prophet whose book sits among the longest in the Old Testament, written in the years around the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures rendered Yirmeyahu as Ieremias, Latin took it as Jeremias, and medieval England wore that down to Jeremy.
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
Arthur
AR-thur
Two syllables with the weight at the front. French says ar-TUR with the stress at the back; Spanish and Italian give it three as Arturo.
- Art — The standard American short form; used in speech far more than the full name.
- Artie — The affectionate version of the same cut; common in the middle of the twentieth century.
- Arty — The y spelling of the same form, and also an English adjective, which cuts both ways.
Jeremiah
jer-uh-MY-uh
Four syllables with the stress on the third. The opening J is the English soft J, not the Hebrew Y — Yirmeyahu keeps that. Spanish and Portuguese speakers will stress it differently and say Jeremías, ending in an s.
- Jerry — The long-standing English short form; also stands alone as a given name and arrives there from Gerald and Jerome, and is most strongly represented among older generations.
- Jer — Informal, spoken more than written, common among friends and teammates.
- Miah — Taken from the end of the name rather than the start; informal, and used as a name in its own right for girls.
- Jem — Older English short form, shared historically with James; rare in the US today.
- Also Remy.
Who has carried each name
Arthur
Arthur Conan Doyle (b. 1859) — Created Sherlock Holmes
Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917) — Wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey
Arthur Miller (b. 1915) — Death of a Salesman playwright who married Marilyn Monroe
Jeremiah
No documented entry for Jeremiah yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Arthur if you want…
- a name on the way upup 76 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesArthur is 2 syllables to Jeremiah's 4
- a name that charts abroad tooArthur is on the national lists of England & Wales, France, Canada and Scotland
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 75% for Jeremiah
Choose Jeremiah if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJeremiah is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itJeremiah runs 4 syllables, Arthur 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Jerry, Jer and Miah
- a name that feels very nowJeremiah is stepping back from its peak
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
Arthur
Strengths
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing, in almost any European language.
- It has a form in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Welsh.
- It carries one of the largest bodies of literature attached to any name.
To consider
- Its origin is genuinely unknown, so any book that gives one confidently is guessing.
- The legend is enormous and unavoidable, which is either the appeal or the burden.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
Jeremiah
Strengths
- A spelling most English speakers already know from scripture, so it rarely needs to be spelled out letter by letter.
- A documented line running from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into English, with no gaps to guess at.
- Established short forms at both ends of the name — Jerry, Jer, Miah — so a child has room to choose.
To consider
- It shares a doorway with Jeremy, and the two get swapped in speech and on paperwork for life. Jerry can point back to either one.
- English has the word "jeremiad", meaning a long, gloomy complaint, coined from the prophet's book. Few people connect the two, but the dictionary does.
- Four syllables is a lot on a form or a name tag, and most bearers end up using something shorter day to day.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Arthur
12%chance Arthur feels dated by 2040
Arthur has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Jeremiah
75%chance Jeremiah feels dated by 2040
Jeremiah is coming down from a big peak (#49 in 2011). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Arthur and Jeremiah 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
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Arthur and Jeremiah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Arthur or Jeremiah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Arthur or Jeremiah?
- Arthur, in 2025: Arthur ranked #87 with 3,847 babies; Jeremiah ranked #88 with 3,840 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Arthur or Jeremiah?
- Arthur. Over the last five years Arthur moved up 76 places; Jeremiah moved down 14 places.
- Which is the older name, Arthur or Jeremiah?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Arthur and Jeremiah?
- About 214,000 people named Arthur are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 215,000 people named Jeremiah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Arthurs or Jeremiahs in the classroom?
- Arthur will almost certainly be the only one in school. Jeremiah 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
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