Arma
An invented name with no known meaning as a given name.
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Arma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arma today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arma births was 1946 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arma. 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 Arma with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arma is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Armas were born before 1961.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
1946
33 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1969 SSA rank
#7,548
Tracked since 1906
Census
Arma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 408 people with the first name Arma, which placed it at #23,859 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
#23,859
National first-name rank
People counted
408
408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arma is Black at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and White (16.9%). 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 Arma 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 Arma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.5% · 210
- Hispanic or Latino21.3% · 87
- White16.9% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.3% · 34
- Two or more races1.5% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Arma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arma from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 160 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Arma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arma 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 Arma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Armas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas recorded the most babies named Arma, while Alabama, Texas, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arma
The name Arma has its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages known to humanity. It is believed to have emerged around the 2nd millennium BCE in the Indus Valley Civilization, which spanned parts of modern-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
In Sanskrit, the word "arma" means "weapon" or "armor," suggesting a connection to warfare and military prowess. This linguistic root can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European language family, which gave rise to many modern European and Asian languages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arma can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. Here, Arma is mentioned as a warrior and a skilled archer, indicating that the name may have been associated with bravery and strength in ancient Indian culture.
As civilizations and trade routes expanded, the name Arma likely spread to other regions, undergoing slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. In ancient Persia (modern-day Iran), records show the existence of an influential military leader named Arma, who lived during the reign of the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Arma. One such person was Arma the Younger, a celebrated Roman general and statesman who lived from 34 BCE to 15 CE. He played a crucial role in securing the Roman Empire's eastern borders and was known for his military strategies and diplomatic skills.
Another prominent figure with the name Arma was a 9th-century Islamic scholar and philosopher from Baghdad. Known as Arma ibn Isa al-Baghdadi, he made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy during the golden age of Islamic civilization.
In the 12th century, Arma de Borgoña, a renowned Spanish knight and military commander, played a pivotal role in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. His bravery and leadership earned him a place in the annals of Spanish history.
During the Renaissance period, Arma Vecchi was an Italian painter and architect who lived from 1550 to 1615. He is celebrated for his vibrant frescoes adorning churches and palaces across Italy, showcasing his mastery of the Mannerist style.
In more recent times, Arma Mahjoub was a prominent Sudanese writer and activist who lived from 1936 to 2018. Her works explored themes of gender, identity, and social justice, earning her international recognition and numerous literary awards.
People
Arma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arma 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
Arma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arma 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Arma a common name?
We classify Arma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 606 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arma most popular?
The single biggest year for Arma was 1946, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arma is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 408 people with the name Arma, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,859 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 Arma 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 Arma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arma leans strongly female. 373 people counted with this name were female (91.0%), compared with 37 male bearers (9.0%). 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 Arma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arma is Black at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and White (16.9%). 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 Arma most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Arma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.5% (210 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 Arma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arma 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 Arma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arma 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 Arma 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 are called Arma?
You can see how many Americans are named Arma on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.