Arthur
Masculine
Arthur is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 548,729 boys against 3,201 girls since 1880. See Arthur as a girl name
The Round Table is not in the earliest Arthur stories. It was added by a Norman poet in the twelfth century, writing in French for an English court, who wanted a way of saying that none of the knights outranked the others — and it has been in every version since.
How old is the name Arthur?
Arthur was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Arthur alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 214,000 people named Arthur are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arthur most popular?
Arthur peaked in 1880, reaching #14 nationally. Today it ranks #87, 73 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Arthur
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. The name's modern popularity has a clearer cause. Queen Victoria named a son Arthur after the Duke of Wellington, whose own first name it was, and the name climbed steeply across the English-speaking world in the decades afterwards. It has come back again in the last few years, having sat quietly for most of a century.
Meaningnot established
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.
Cultural footprint
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
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (b. 1769) — Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Arthur
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192110,527 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #14reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- +43.0%3,847 in 2025, from 2,691
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.
Arthur in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arthur in French — same name
- Arthur in Welsh — same name
- Arturo in Spanish — same name
- Arturo in Italian — same name
- Artur in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from Office for National Statistics, INSEE, Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Arthurs among us
people named Arthur are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 444 born in 2025 was named Arthur
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Arthur is headed
Arthur looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Arthur beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arthur in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- 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.
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Arthur
Masculine · #87 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arthurs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 214,000 people named Arthur are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arthur in 2025?
- Arthur ranks #87 among US boy names in 2025, with 3,847 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Arthur?
- About 1 in every 444 US boys born in 2025 was named Arthur — 3,847 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arthur with classmates?
- Arthur will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arthur
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jeremiah#88 · Gael#86 · Luka#85 · Jonathan#89 · Micah#90 · Adriel#84 · Ian#83 · Leonardo#91
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arthur? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arthur and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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