Arita
A name of Japanese origin meaning "valley or field of reeds".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Arita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arita today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arita births was 1932 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arita. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Arita with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arita is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Aritas were born before 1970.
People living today
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
1932
10 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1987 SSA rank
#8,846
Tracked since 1918
Census
Arita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 336 people with the first name Arita, which placed it at #27,298 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#27,298
National first-name rank
People counted
336
336 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arita is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Hispanic (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Arita described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Arita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.9% · 144
- Black or African American30.7% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.0% · 37
- Two or more races2.1% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 6
Popularity
Arita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arita from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 41 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Arita remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arita 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 Arita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arita
The name Arita is believed to have originated from the Japanese language, where it is a feminine given name. The earliest records of this name can be traced back to the 17th century in Japan, specifically in the town of Arita, located in the Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. This town was renowned for its production of highly prized and exquisite Arita porcelain, which was exported to various parts of the world during that time.
The name Arita is thought to be derived from the Japanese word "ari," which means "to exist" or "to be present." This connection suggests that the name may have been given to children as a symbolic wish for their existence and presence in the world. Alternatively, some scholars believe that the name could be a reference to the town of Arita itself, as it was a significant center of pottery production and trade during that period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Arita was Arita Kizaemon, a renowned potter who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was credited with introducing the use of overglaze enamels in Arita porcelain, contributing significantly to the development of this art form. Another notable figure was Arita Sahyōe, a female potter from the late 17th century who was recognized for her exceptional skill in creating Arita porcelain.
In the realm of Japanese literature, the name Arita appears in the 20th century novel "The Makioka Sisters" by Junichiro Tanizaki, published in 1943-1948. The novel features a character named Arita, who plays a supporting role in the story.
Moving beyond Japan, the name Arita has also been recorded in other parts of the world, albeit less frequently. In the 19th century, there was an Italian painter named Arita Sebastiano, who was born in 1859 and gained recognition for his landscape paintings depicting the countryside of Sicily.
Another notable individual with the name Arita was Arita Huzurlu, a Turkish writer and poet who lived from 1938 to 2018. She was known for her works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human experience.
While the name Arita may not be as widespread as some other names, it holds a rich cultural heritage rooted in the art and history of Japan, specifically in the town of Arita and its renowned pottery tradition. The name has transcended its origins and has been adopted by individuals from various backgrounds, each adding their own unique stories and contributions to the legacy of this name.
People
Arita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arita 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
Arita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arita 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Arita a common name?
We classify Arita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arita most popular?
The single biggest year for Arita was 1932, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arita is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 336 people with the name Arita, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,298 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Arita in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Arita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arita appears almost entirely female. Of the 330 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Arita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arita is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Hispanic (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Arita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (144 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Arita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arita in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Arita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arita in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Arita can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Arita?
See how many Americans are named Arita on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.