Arman
Man of faith or devotion, of Persian or Armenian origin.
Name Census estimates that about 4,316 living Americans carry the first name Arman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arman today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arman births was 2004 (161 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arman. 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 Arman with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 79,415 Americans
Peak year
2004
161 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,293
Tracked since 1917
Census
Arman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,513 people with the first name Arman, which placed it at #3,686 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
#3,686
National first-name rank
People counted
5.5K
5,513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arman is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.0%) and Two or More Races (8.0%). 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 Arman 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 Arman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.0% · 3,144
- Asian and Pacific Islander24.0% · 1,325
- Two or more races8.0% · 441
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 322
- Black or African American4.9% · 272
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 9
Popularity
Arman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arman from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,379 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Arman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arman 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 Arman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Armans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Arman, while Minnesota, Massachusetts, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 170 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arman
The name Arman originates from the Persian language and has its roots in the ancient Iranian culture. It is derived from the Persian word "Arman," which means "wish" or "desire." The name is believed to have been in use since the pre-Islamic era in Persia, which is now known as Iran.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arman can be found in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. Written by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century, the Shahnameh contains stories and legends of ancient Persian heroes and kings. However, the name does not appear to have been widely used until the Islamic period in Iran.
In the Islamic era, the name Arman gained popularity among Persian Muslims. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Arman ibn Muhammad al-Farisi, a 10th-century Persian mathematician and astronomer. He is known for his contributions to the study of algebra and his work on improving astronomical calculations.
Another historical figure with the name Arman was Arman ibn Abi al-Ala, a Persian poet and scholar who lived in the 11th century. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of his time and is celebrated for his poetic works, which often dealt with themes of love and mysticism.
During the Safavid dynasty in Persia (1501-1736), the name Arman continued to be used, particularly among the nobility and intellectual classes. One notable figure from this period was Arman Khan, a military commander and governor who served under Shah Abbas I in the early 17th century.
In more recent history, Arman Gandhi, an Indian lawyer and social activist born in 1934, carried this name. He was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement and worked tirelessly for the rights of the underprivileged communities in India.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Arman was Arman Manookian, an Armenian-American painter and sculptor who lived from 1919 to 2008. He was a pioneer of the Nouveau Réalisme movement in art and is renowned for his innovative use of everyday objects in his sculptural works.
People
Arman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arman 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
Arman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,316 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arman 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 79,415 US residents.
Is Arman a common name?
We classify Arman as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,466 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arman most popular?
The single biggest year for Arman was 2004, when 161 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arman is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,513 people with the name Arman, or 1.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,686 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 Arman 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 Arman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arman leans strongly male. 5,451 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 60 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Arman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arman is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.0%) and Two or More Races (8.0%). 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 Arman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.0% (3,144 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 Arman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arman 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 Arman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arman 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 Arman 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 Arman?
You can see how many people share the name Arman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.