Arsenio
Masculine · “Manly”
Arsenio is the Spanish and Italian form of a Greek word for manly, and its American record has one obvious cause: The Arsenio Hall Show launched in January 1989, and the name's peak is that year.
How old is the name Arsenio?
Arsenio first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Arsenio alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 1,800 people named Arsenio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arsenio most popular?
Arsenio peaked in 1989, reaching #479 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 5,129 places below that high. See the whole 1989 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From arsenios to Arsenio
The story of Arsenio
Arsenius the Great left the imperial court for the Egyptian desert around 394 and became one of the most quoted of the Desert Fathers; his name spread through the Eastern and then the Western church. Spanish and Italian used Arsenio steadily, and Arsène Lupin, Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief, carried the French form from 1905. Its American record is small until 1989, when Arsenio Hall's late-night show began a five-year run that made him one of the most visible people on American television; the birth records peak that year and fall away with the show.
Meaning
Manly, virile
From Greek arsenios, manly or virile, from arsēn, male. The reading is settled. Saint Arsenius the Great, a fourth-century Roman tutor to the sons of Theodosius who became a desert monk in Egypt, put the name into Christian use, and Spanish and Italian took it as Arsenio.
How the name formed
- arsenios
- Arsenius
- Arsenio
Related forms: Arsenio · Arsenio · Arsène · Αρσένιος · Arseny
Pronouncing Arsenio
ar-SEH-nee-oh
Four syllables, stress on the second, in Spanish and Italian. English speakers say ar-SEE-nee-oh, lengthening the stressed vowel.
Nicknames for Arsenio
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 1989397 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #479reached in 1989
- Change vs 2023
- −27.3%16 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Arsenio in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arsenio in Spanish — same name
- Arsenio in Italian — same name
- Arsène in French — related form
- Αρσένιος in Greek — related form
- Arseny in Russian — related form
Arsenios among us
people named Arsenio are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Arsenio
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Donnell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arsenio's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donnell climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donnell's path sketches the road Arsenio is walking now.
Arsenio sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Arsenio beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arsenio in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and connects to a well-documented desert father.
- It is spelled identically in Spanish and Italian.
- Four open syllables give it real music.
- The first syllable is unusable as a short form in British English.
- It is closely tied to one American television career and one year.
- Four syllables is long for American paperwork.
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What they receive
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Arsenio
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arsenios are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Arsenio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arsenio in 2025?
- Arsenio ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arsenio?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Arsenio — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arsenio with classmates?
- Arsenio will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arsenio
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arsenio? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arsenio and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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