Arry
A unisex name derived from the word "heir" suggesting future importance.
Name Census estimates that about 7 living Americans carry the first name Arry. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arry today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arry births was 1981 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arry. 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 Arry with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Arry. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
7
~ 1 in 48,964,905 Americans
Peak year
1981
7 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1981 SSA rank
#4,988
Tracked since 1981
Census
Arry in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Arry, which placed it at #43,512 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
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arry
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arry is White at 40.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.8%). 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 Arry 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 Arry at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.1% · 65
- Black or African American35.8% · 58
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.8% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 3
- Two or more races1.9% · 3
Popularity
Arry: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Arry 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 Arry during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Arry
The name Arry is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the English name Harry, which itself is derived from the Germanic name Henri or Henry. This name can be traced back to the Old German name Heimrich, meaning "ruler of the home" or "home ruler."
In its earliest known usage, Arry was a nickname or pet name used in English-speaking regions, particularly Britain and parts of the United States. It first gained popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a familiar form of Harry.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arry can be found in the works of English novelist Jane Austen, who used it as a character name in her novel "Persuasion," published in 1817. In the book, Arry is a young boy from a naval family.
Another notable early bearer of the name was Arry Griffith, an English cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in the mid-19th century. He was born in 1828 and played first-class cricket between 1848 and 1863.
In the late 19th century, Arry became associated with a particular stereotype of a working-class Cockney man in London. This association was popularized by the character Arry in the satirical play "The Worst Woman in London" by Walter Browne, published in 1899.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Arry was Arry Barnes, an English professional footballer who played as a winger for several clubs, including Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion, in the early 20th century. He was born in 1904 and played from 1923 to 1938.
Another notable Arry was Arry Edmonds, an American actor and singer who was active in vaudeville and Broadway productions in the early 20th century. He was born in 1884 and had a successful career on stage until his death in 1964.
While the name Arry has fallen out of widespread usage in recent times, it remains a part of the historical record and continues to be used occasionally as a nickname or diminutive form of Harry.
People
Arry + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arry 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
Arry: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arry?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arry 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 48,964,905 US residents.
Is Arry a common name?
We classify Arry as "Very Rare". It ranks above 23.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arry most popular?
The single biggest year for Arry was 1981, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arry is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arry in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Arry, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 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 Arry 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 Arry?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arry on both sides of the split. Of the 158 people counted with this name, 107 were male (67.7%) and 51 were female (32.3%). 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 Arry?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arry is White at 40.1%. The next largest groups are Black (35.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.8%). 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 Arry most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arry in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.1% (65 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 Arry in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arry a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arry 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 Arry still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arry 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 Arry 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 Arry?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.