Arvid
Masculine · “Old Norse arn and vidr”
Read the American data for the 1880s and you can see a ship arriving. Arvid, Alfred, Nels, Sven, Olaf, Hilma, Selma and Anna all rise together in exactly those years, which is when a million and a half Swedes left for the United States. A name curve is an immigration record if you know which names to line up.
How old is the name Arvid?
Arvid was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Arvid alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 900 people named Arvid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arvid most popular?
Arvid peaked in 1887, reaching #544 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,699 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Arnvidr to Arvid
The story of Arvid
Between 1850 and 1930 about a quarter of Sweden's population emigrated, most of it to the United States, and the peak decade was the 1880s, when harvest failures and land shortage coincided with cheap Atlantic passage. They settled heavily in Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and the Dakotas, and they brought their names. The American record shows the arrival with unusual clarity because Swedish names were distinctive enough not to be confused with anything already present. What happens next is equally visible: the names peak within a decade of arrival and then fall away as the second generation chooses American ones. Arvid, Nels and Hilma effectively vanish by 1920, while the families that carried them are still there. That gap between people and names is the ordinary shape of assimilation, and it is the reason immigrant names are usually a poor guide to how many people arrived.
Meaning
Old Norse arn and vidr, eagle and tree
From Old Norse Arnvidr, from arn, an eagle, and vidr, a tree or wood. The compound is of the standard Norse two-element type, and vidr appears as a second element in a number of names, including Torvid and Ingvid. Arvid is the modern Swedish and Norwegian form. It peaks in the American data in 1887.
How the name formed
- Arnvidr
- Arvid
Related forms: Arvid · Arvid · Arvi
Pronouncing Arvid
AR-vid
Two syllables, stress on the first. Swedish says AR-veed with a longer second vowel and a distinctive pitch accent that English does not reproduce. Americans usually give both syllables short vowels.
Nicknames for Arvid
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
- 191579 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #544reached in 1887
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Arvid in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arvid in Swedish — same name
- Arvid in Norwegian — same name
- Arvi in Finnish — related form
Arvids among us
people named Arvid are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Arvid
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
Arvid 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
Arvid beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arvid in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both Norse elements have settled meanings.
- It is short, unusual and easy to say in English.
- It has a documented Scandinavian history and continuing use there.
- It is strongly associated with nineteenth-century Scandinavian immigration.
- The Swedish pronunciation differs noticeably from the American one.
- It is rare enough in the United States to need spelling out.
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Arvid
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arvids are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Arvid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arvid in 2025?
- Arvid ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arvid?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Arvid — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arvid with classmates?
- Arvid will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arvid
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arvid? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arvid and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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