Artis
Feminine · “of skill”
Artis is given to both — 958 girls and 5,377 boys since 1880. See Artis as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Artis is a Latin word that has been read as a name for well over a century, and it is given to sons and daughters both. The word means skill — not art in the modern gallery sense, but the practical competence of somebody who knows how to do a thing properly.
How old is the name Artis?
Artis first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Artis alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 400 people named Artis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Artis most popular?
Artis peaked in 1937, reaching #1330 nationally. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From Latin ars, a craft or technique, takes the form artis in the genitive to Artis
The story of Artis
The Roman sense of the word survives in a phrase most people have heard and few have unpacked: the liberal arts. Those were the artes liberales — the skills appropriate to a free man, as opposed to the ones a laborer or a slave would need. The medieval curriculum fixed them at seven, split into the three of language and the four of number, and a university degree meant you had been put through them. The point of the phrase was social before it was educational: it drew a line between the knowledge that made a citizen and the knowledge that merely made a living. The word underneath it all is this one, and it never meant beauty. It meant knowing how.
Meaningscholars disagree
of skill
Latin ars meant a craft, a technique, a body of know-how; artis is the form it takes in the genitive, which is why the word turns up in that shape in phrases and inscriptions. Whether that is where the name came from is another matter. It may equally be a surname adopted as a first name, or a clipping of Arthur, or a coinage that happens to land on a Latin word. The reading above describes the word; the name's route to a birth certificate is not documented.
How the name formed
- Latin ars, a craft or technique, takes the form artis in the genitive
- The artes liberales are fixed at seven in the medieval curriculum
- The word passes into English as art, artist and artisan
- American records carry Artis as a first name for both sexes
Related forms: Ars · Artie · Artus
Pronouncing Artis
AR-tiss
Two syllables with the stress on the first. In Latin the s at the end is fully pronounced and so is the vowel before it; English does the same here, which makes this one of the few classical names that survives into English without losing anything.
Nicknames for Artis
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
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 194831 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1330reached in 1937
- Change vs 2022
- +40.0%7 in 2023, from 5
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.
Artis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ars in Latin — related form
- Artie in English — related form
- Artus in English — spelling variant
Artiss among us
people named Artis are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Artis sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, firm and completely unambiguous in speech
- A real Latin word with a meaning that can be explained in one sentence
- Works for a son or a daughter, with short forms that suit either
- It reads as a surname to many Americans, which produces the familiar question about which name goes where on a form.
- The name belongs to a generation now largely gone, so it will sound like a grandfather's name until enough children carry it again.
- The minority of daughters given this spelling will meet the assumption of a son on every written list.
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Artis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Artiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Artis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Artis in 2025?
- Artis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Artis with classmates?
- Artis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anna#107 · Ashley#164 · Amanda#493 · Amy#257 · Angela#408 · Alice#65 · Ann#1076 · Andrea#235
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Artis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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