Head to head · Boys' names
Arturo vs Gustavo
#627 vs #625 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Gustavo is a whisker ahead (#625 vs #627 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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
On the charts, Arturo leads 3 measures of 6; Gustavo leads 2.
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
- 1890s: Arturo #1002, Gustavo — — Arturo higher
- 1900s: Arturo #980, Gustavo — — Arturo higher
- 1910s: Arturo #900, Gustavo #1658 — Arturo higher
- 1920s: Arturo #526, Gustavo #1306 — Arturo higher
- 1930s: Arturo #477, Gustavo #1094 — Arturo higher
- 1940s: Arturo #407, Gustavo #1018 — Arturo higher
- 1950s: Arturo #353, Gustavo #709 — Arturo higher
- 1960s: Arturo #359, Gustavo #566 — Arturo higher
- 1970s: Arturo #304, Gustavo #461 — Arturo higher
- 1980s: Arturo #278, Gustavo #385 — Arturo higher
- 1990s: Arturo #274, Gustavo #301 — Arturo higher
- 2000s: Arturo #316, Gustavo #296 — Gustavo higher
- 2010s: Arturo #517, Gustavo #505 — Gustavo higher
- 2020s: Arturo #605, Gustavo #636 — Arturo higher
Arturo stood higher in 12 of 14 decades; Arturo took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Arturo | Gustavo |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1002 | — |
| 1900s | #980 | — |
| 1910s | #900 | #1658 |
| 1920s | #526 | #1306 |
| 1930s | #477 | #1094 |
| 1940s | #407 | #1018 |
| 1950s | #353 | #709 |
| 1960s | #359 | #566 |
| 1970s | #304 | #461 |
| 1980s | #278 | #385 |
| 1990s | #274 | #301 |
| 2000s | #316 | #296 |
| 2010s | #517 | #505 |
| 2020s | #605 | #636 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Arturo
Bear, or a Roman family name of unclear sense
Two serious readings compete behind Arthur, and neither has won. One takes it from the Roman family name Artorius, whose own meaning is lost. The other takes it from a Celtic root for 'bear' — Welsh arth — possibly joined to a word for 'king' or 'man'. A separate Greek name, Arktouros, 'guardian of the bear', gave the star Arcturus, and the two have shadowed each other for centuries without being the same word.
Artorius / Arthur → Arthur (Old French romance) → Artù / Artur → Arturo
How it traveled
The name enters the record in early Welsh and Latin writing about a British war leader, and the ninth-century Historia Brittonum names him. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written in the twelfth century, turned that figure into a king, and French romance carried the story to every court in Europe within a generation or two.
Gustavo
most often read as "staff of the Goths"
Two serious readings compete for the Old Norse original. One takes it from the elements Gautr, meaning a Goth, and stafr, a staff or support. The other traces it back to the Slavic name Gostislav, built from words for guest and glory. Neither has won the argument, and the name is older than the records that would settle it.
Gautstafr → Gustav → Gustavus → Gustave → Gustavo
How it traveled
The oldest form is Scandinavian — Gustav, a Swedish royal name from the sixteenth century, Latinized for European chanceries and battlefield dispatches as Gustavus. That Latin form is what traveled: it gave French Gustave, German and Swedish Gustav, and, in the Romance languages, Gustavo.
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
Arturo
ar-TOO-ro
Stress on the middle syllable in Spanish, Italian and English alike. The Spanish r is a single tap, and the final vowel is a clean 'oh' rather than a drawl; American speakers who soften both are still saying the name recognizably.
- Turo — The usual clipped form in Spanish-speaking families; informal, rarely used on paper.
- Arturito — Standard Spanish diminutive, used for children and affectionately for adults within the family.
- Art — The English-language shortening, borrowed from Arthur; also stands alone as a given name in older American generations.
- Arty — Informal and mostly a childhood form; spelled Artie by some families.
Gustavo
goo-STAH-voh
Three syllables in Spanish and Portuguese, stress in the middle. English speakers sometimes shift it to guh-STAH-voh, which passes without trouble; the version to correct early is GUS-tuh-voh, with the weight on the front.
- Tavo — The standard informal short form across Spanish-speaking families; used among friends and relatives rather than on paperwork.
- Gus — The usual English-language shortening; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Tavito — Spanish diminutive of Tavo, mostly used for children and by older relatives.
- Guty — An affectionate Latin American short form, informal only.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Arturo if you want…
- a name holding steadyArturo is holding its place on the charts
Choose Gustavo if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Gustavo from Arturo.
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
Arturo
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Italian and English, with Arthur, Artur and Artair as recognized counterparts elsewhere.
- Spelled the way it sounds in both Spanish and English — no silent letters, no competing variants to correct.
- On US records for well over a century without ever disappearing, so it reads as established rather than new.
To consider
- English speakers who know Arthur may reach for it by reflex, and a child called Arturo can spend some years correcting teachers who default to the English form or clip straight to Art.
- The double r-and-o ending invites Artur, Arthuro and Aturo on forms — usually fixed in one breath, but it will come up.
- Recognizable everywhere, yet a child is unlikely to meet another one in a classroom. That suits some families and not others; it is worth deciding which you are.
Gustavo
Strengths
- One spelling in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, so it crosses borders without being rewritten or re-explained.
- Documented since the sixteenth century in its northern form and continuously on US records since the early twentieth.
- Ready-made short forms at both ends: Tavo in Spanish, Gus in English, neither of them invented on the spot.
To consider
- Outside Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking circles, some people will default to the stress pattern of Gustav and land on GUS-tuh-voh. It is an easy correction, but one you make more than once.
- The name places a child clearly in a Hispanic and Latin American naming tradition. For many families that is exactly the point; it is worth knowing it reads that way to strangers.
- Gus, the English short form, has an older and more Anglo history of its own, so a Gustavo may find himself handed a nickname with a rather different flavor than the full name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Arturo and Gustavo 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 Arturo and Gustavo?
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.
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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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Arturo and Gustavo — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Arturo or Gustavo — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Arturo or Gustavo?
- Gustavo, in 2025: Gustavo ranked #625 with 447 babies; Arturo ranked #627 with 446 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Arturo or Gustavo?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Arturo moved down 44 places; Gustavo moved down 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Arturo or Gustavo?
- Arturo entered the US charts in 1898; Gustavo entered the US charts in 1911. On the American record, Arturo is the older name.
- How many people are named Arturo and Gustavo?
- About 49,500 people named Arturo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 38,000 people named Gustavo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Arturos or Gustavos in the classroom?
- Arturo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Gustavo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Arturo, Gustavo and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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