Artemus
Masculine · “of Artemis”
Artemus is a goddess's name given to men. Greek naming did this freely: take Artemis, add a masculine ending, and you have a man dedicated to her, which is how Artemas, Artemidoros and Artemon all came about. The ending does all the work.
How old is the name Artemus?
Artemus first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Artemus alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 500 people named Artemus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Artemus most popular?
Artemus peaked in 1971, reaching #1637 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 4,809 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Artemis to Artemus
The story of Artemus
Greek personal names built on gods' names are extremely common, and the shortening of a long compound to its first element was standard practice: Artemidoros becomes Artemas, Dionysodoros becomes Dionysas. Artemas appears once in the New Testament, in a line of Paul's letter to Titus, which is enough to have carried the name into Christian use. English took it as Artemas and Artemus, and it had a particular life in nineteenth-century America, where a widely read humorist wrote under the pen name Artemus Ward. Its best year in United States records is 1971, later than the name's period would suggest.
Meaningscholars disagree
of Artemis, gift of Artemis
The New Testament Artemas is generally taken as a shortened form of Artemidoros, gift of Artemis, with the -doros, gift, dropped. Artemis herself has no secure etymology; proposals include a word for safe or unharmed and a pre-Greek source, and the goddess may be older than Greek. So the name is confidently derived from a name whose own meaning is unknown.
How the name formed
- Artemis
- Artemidoros
- Artemas
- Artemus
Related forms: Artemas · Artemas · Artem · Artem
Pronouncing Artemus
AR-tuh-muss
Three syllables with the stress at the front. Artemas and Artemus are identical aloud; the final vowel is reduced to nothing in either spelling.
Nicknames for Artemus
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 197129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1637reached in 1971
- Change vs 2024
- −27.8%13 in 2025, from 18
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.
Artemus in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Artemas in Greek — same name
- Artemas in Latin — same name
- Artem in Russian — related form
- Artem in Ukrainian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Artemuss among us
people named Artemus are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Artemus
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 Herby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Artemus's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Herby climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Herby's path sketches the road Artemus is walking now.
Artemus 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
Artemus beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Artemus in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Greek name with a New Testament bearer behind it.
- Art and Artie are both completely established English short forms.
- Related to the very popular Russian Artem, which few people realize.
- Artemis is far better known and is now used mainly for girls.
- Artemas is the biblical spelling and will be substituted.
- The goddess's own name has no recoverable meaning.
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Artemus
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Artemuss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Artemus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Artemus in 2025?
- Artemus ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Artemus?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Artemus — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Artemus with classmates?
- Artemus will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Artemus
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Artemus? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Artemus and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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