Arion
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "melodious" or "singer".
Name Census estimates that about 2,680 living Americans carry the first name Arion. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Arion today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arion births was 1998 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arion. 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
2.7K
~ 1 in 127,893 Americans
Peak year
1998
104 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,500
Tracked since 1918
Gender
Gender distribution for Arion
Arion is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,759 total registrations, 2,139 (77.5%) were male and 620 (22.5%) were female.
Arion as a male name
- Ranked #2,500 in 2024
- 54 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (89 births)
Arion as a female name
- Ranked #15,486 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (71 births)
Popularity
Arion: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arion from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 855 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Arion remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arion 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 Arion during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arions live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Arion, while Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arion
The name Arion has its origins in Ancient Greek mythology and literature. It is derived from the Greek word "Arion," which means "the melodious one" or "the singer." The name is most closely associated with the semi-legendary ancient Greek poet and musician Arion of Lesbos, who lived around the 7th century BCE.
According to the ancient Greek writer Herodotus, Arion was a court musician and poet in the service of Periander, the ruler of Corinth. He is credited with inventing the dithyramb, an ancient Greek hymn sung in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. The story of Arion's miraculous rescue by a dolphin after being thrown overboard by sailors is one of the most famous legends from ancient Greek literature.
The name Arion appears in various ancient Greek texts, including the works of Herodotus, Aelian, and Ovid's Fasti. In the Middle Ages, the name Arion was occasionally used as a symbolic representation of poetry and music in allegorical works.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Arion was Arion of Methymna, a Greek lyric poet who lived in the 7th century BCE. Another notable figure was Arion of Lesbos, the aforementioned semi-legendary poet and musician from the same period.
In the Renaissance period, the name Arion was occasionally used by artists and scholars as a pseudonym or pen name. One such example is the Italian poet and playwright Arione Dolce (1508-1568), whose real name was Giovanni Francesco Arrivabene.
During the 19th century, the name Arion gained some popularity in Germany and other parts of Europe, likely due to the influence of classical literature and the Romantic movement. One notable bearer of the name from this era was Arion Roβmäßler (1806-1867), a German naturalist and malacologist (a scholar of mollusks).
Another historical figure with the name Arion was Arion, the Sicilian flautist and inventor of the hydraulic organ, who lived in the 3rd century BCE. While not much is known about his life, his innovations in music and engineering were significant contributions to ancient Greek culture.
People
Arion + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arion 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
Arion: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arion?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,680 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arion 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 127,893 US residents.
Is Arion a common name?
We classify Arion as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,759 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arion most popular?
The single biggest year for Arion was 1998, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arion is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Arion a male name?
Yes, 77.5% of people registered as Arion 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.