Arkan
An Arabic name meaning "pillar" or "foundation" of strength and support.
Name Census estimates that about 198 living Americans carry the first name Arkan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arkan today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arkan births was 2024 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arkan. 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 Arkan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
198
~ 1 in 1,731,083 Americans
Peak year
2024
31 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,598
Tracked since 2012
Census
Arkan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 313 people with the first name Arkan, which placed it at #28,614 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
#28,614
National first-name rank
People counted
313
313 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arkan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arkan is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Arkan 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 Arkan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.7% · 259
- Black or African American7.0% · 22
- Two or more races5.4% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Arkan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arkan from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 123 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arkan 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 Arkan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arkans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Michigan, California recorded the most babies named Arkan, while Virginia, California, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arkan
The name Arkan is believed to have its origins in the Middle East, deriving from the Arabic word 'arkan', which means 'pillar' or 'support'. It is thought to have been in use since ancient times, with roots dating back to the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Arkan can be found in ancient Arabic texts and poetry. In the 6th century, a renowned Arab poet named Arkan bin Malik bin Qays al-Kindi was known for his eloquent verses and literary contributions.
During the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century, the name Arkan gained popularity among Muslim communities. Some historical figures bearing this name include Arkan al-Ramli, a 13th-century Egyptian scholar and jurist, and Arkan al-Dawla, a 10th-century Persian military commander and ruler of the Buyid dynasty.
In the Ottoman Empire, the name Arkan was associated with strength and resilience. Arkan Pasha, a 17th-century Ottoman statesman and military leader, played a significant role in the empire's expansion and conquest of territories.
Moving forward in time, Arkan Simović, born in 1952 and died in 2000, was a Serbian criminal and paramilitary leader who gained notoriety during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. His actions during this period have left a controversial legacy.
Another notable figure with the name Arkan was Arkan Kariv, an Israeli military officer and politician born in 1930. He served in several prominent roles, including as a member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and as the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.
It's important to note that while the name Arkan has been associated with various historical figures, its meaning and cultural significance may vary across different regions and time periods.
People
Arkan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arkan 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
Arkan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arkan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 198 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arkan 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 1,731,083 US residents.
Is Arkan a common name?
We classify Arkan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 199 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arkan most popular?
The single biggest year for Arkan was 2024, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arkan is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arkan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 313 people with the name Arkan, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,614 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 Arkan 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 Arkan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arkan leans strongly male. 305 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Arkan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arkan is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.0%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Arkan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arkan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.7% (259 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 Arkan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arkan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arkan 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.
Is Arkan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arkan 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 Arkan 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 people have Arkan as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Arkan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.