Arthur
A masculine given name of Celtic origin meaning "bear".
Name Census estimates that about 223,751 living Americans carry the first name Arthur. It sits at #105 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Arthur today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arthur births was 1921 (10,579 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arthur. 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 Arthur with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Arthur is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 3,200 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
224K
~ 1 in 1,532 Americans
Peak year
1921
10,579 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#105
Tracked since 1880
Census
Arthur in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205,841 people with the first name Arthur, which placed it at #270 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
#270
National first-name rank
People counted
206K
205,841 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
68.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arthur
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arthur is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Arthur 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 Arthur at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 138,390
- Black or African American16.6% · 34,181
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 20,203
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 6,365
- Two or more races2.6% · 5,299
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,403
Gender
Gender distribution for Arthur
Out of the 548,057 babies given the name Arthur since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Arthur as a male name
- Ranked #105 in 2024
- 3,318 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (10,527 births)
Arthur as a female name
- Ranked #12,265 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1928 (94 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arthur appears almost entirely male. Of the 205,844 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Arthur: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arthur from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 97,818 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arthur 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 Arthur during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 16,180 | 66 | 16,246 |
| 1890s | 16,349 | 82 | 16,431 |
| 1900s | 15,409 | 96 | 15,505 |
| 1910s | 67,478 | 334 | 67,812 |
| 1920s | 97,112 | 706 | 97,818 |
| 1930s | 67,730 | 544 | 68,274 |
| 1940s | 73,966 | 361 | 74,327 |
| 1950s | 65,720 | 312 | 66,032 |
| 1960s | 39,620 | 288 | 39,908 |
| 1970s | 22,102 | 203 | 22,305 |
| 1980s | 16,795 | 157 | 16,952 |
| 1990s | 11,782 | 39 | 11,821 |
| 2000s | 8,341 | 0 | 8,341 |
| 2010s | 12,626 | 5 | 12,631 |
| 2020s | 13,647 | 7 | 13,654 |
Geography
Where Arthurs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Arthur, while Wyoming, Nevada, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9,728 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arthur
The name Arthur originates from the Celtic British sources and is derived from the Celtic compound name Artur, which means "bear" and "man" or "bear man." It is believed to have emerged in the 6th century AD among the ancient Britons, who were of Celtic descent and inhabited the regions of Great Britain.
The name gained significant popularity due to its association with the legendary King Arthur, a British leader who is said to have defended Britain against the Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have been widely celebrated in literature, art, and folklore throughout the centuries, contributing to the enduring fame of the name.
The earliest recorded use of the name Arthur dates back to the 6th century, when it appeared in the Welsh genealogies and historical accounts. One of the earliest known individuals with the name was Arthur, a 6th-century British king who led the defense against the Anglo-Saxons, as depicted in the legendary tales.
Over the course of history, several notable figures have borne the name Arthur. One of the most famous was Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (1187-1203), who was a medieval Breton ruler and one of the few indisputably historical figures to bear the name during the Middle Ages. Another prominent Arthur was Arthur Tudor (1486-1502), the eldest son of King Henry VII of England and heir to the throne before his untimely death.
During the 19th century, the name gained renewed popularity due to the Romantic movement's fascination with Arthurian legends. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was a notable British military leader and statesman who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), the celebrated Scottish writer and creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, also contributed to the name's enduring appeal.
In the 20th century, Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), the renowned British science fiction writer and futurist, became a prominent bearer of the name. Another notable Arthur was Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), an American professional tennis player who was the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title and a prominent advocate for civil rights and social justice.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Arthur, a name that has endured for centuries and continues to be widely used across various cultures and societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Arthur
People
Arthur + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arthur 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
Arthur: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arthur?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 223,751 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arthur 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 1,532 US residents.
Is Arthur a common name?
We classify Arthur as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 548,057 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arthur most popular?
The single biggest year for Arthur was 1921, when 10,579 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arthur is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arthur in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205,841 people with the name Arthur, or 68.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #270 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 Arthur 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 Arthur?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arthur appears almost entirely male. Of the 205,844 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Arthur?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arthur is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Arthur most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arthur in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (138,390 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 Arthur in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arthur a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Arthur 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 Arthur still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arthur 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 Arthur 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 the name Arthur?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.