Arek
A Slavic origin name meaning "a bright, shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 366 living Americans carry the first name Arek. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arek today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arek births was 2003 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arek. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
366
~ 1 in 936,487 Americans
Peak year
2003
21 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,948
Tracked since 1971
Popularity
Arek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arek from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Arek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arek by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Arek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Areks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Arek
The given name Arek is a diminutive form of the Polish name Arkadiusz, which has its origins in the Greek name Arkadios. Arkadios is derived from the Greek word "Arkas," meaning a person from Arcadia, an ancient region in the central Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. The name Arek gained popularity in Poland and other Slavic countries in the 20th century.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Arkadios can be traced back to ancient Greek literature, where it was the name of a son of Zeus and Callisto in Greek mythology. Arkadios was also the name of several historical figures, including a 3rd-century BCE Greek philosopher from Arcadia.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Arek was Arek Wawrzynkiewicz, a Polish military officer who served during World War II. He was born in 1918 and died in 1944. Another notable Arek was Arek Kłusowski, a Polish footballer who played as a striker for various clubs in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s.
Arek Gołaś, born in 1964, is a Polish musician and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Dżem. Arek Jakubik, born in 1972, is a Polish actor who has appeared in numerous films and television series, including the award-winning movie "Mała Moskwa" (2008).
Arek Fedde, born in 1984, is a German-Polish DJ and record producer known for his electronic dance music. He has released several successful singles and remixes under various aliases, including "Metropolis" and "Broken Toyz."
Throughout its history, the name Arek has been predominantly used in Poland and other Slavic countries, although it has gained some popularity in other parts of the world due to immigration and cultural exchange.
People
Arek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arek as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Arek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 366 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arek going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 936,487 US residents.
Is Arek a common name?
We classify Arek as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arek most popular?
The single biggest year for Arek was 2003, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arek is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Arek a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arek in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.