Arvie
A derived variant of the French name "Arville" of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Arvie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Arvie today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arvie births was 1917 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arvie. 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 Arvie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arvie is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Arvies were born before 1958.
People living today
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
1917
31 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1980 SSA rank
#3,712
Tracked since 1884
Census
Arvie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 318 people with the first name Arvie, which placed it at #28,322 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
#28,322
National first-name rank
People counted
318
318 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arvie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvie is White at 53.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%). 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 Arvie 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 Arvie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.8% · 171
- Black or African American22.6% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.9% · 60
- Two or more races2.2% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Arvie
Arvie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 749 total registrations, 479 (64.0%) were male and 270 (36.0%) were female.
Arvie as a male name
- Ranked #6,321 in 1980
- 5 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1921 (16 births)
Arvie as a female name
- Ranked #3,712 in 1944
- 7 female births in 1944
- Peak: 1917 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arvie on both sides of the split. Of the 315 people counted with this name, 213 were male (67.6%) and 102 were female (32.4%).
Popularity
Arvie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arvie from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 214 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
Arvie 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 Arvie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arvies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Arvie
The given name Arvie finds its origins in the Scandinavian languages, particularly Old Norse. It is believed to have derived from the Old Norse word "arfr," which translates to "heir" or "inheritance." This connection suggests that Arvie may have been a name bestowed upon those who were destined for significant inheritances or held prominent positions within their communities.
During the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th to the late 11th century, the name Arvie was primarily used in parts of what is now modern-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Its popularity spread as Norse settlers and explorers ventured to other regions, such as Iceland, Greenland, and even parts of North America.
While there are no definitive records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some scholars believe that Arvie may have been a variation of the more commonly known name Arvid, which also shares the same Old Norse roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arvie can be traced back to Arvie Magnusson, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the late 10th century. He was known for his leadership in defending his clan's territories against rival groups during the turbulent era of Norse expansion.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Arvie. One such figure was Arvie Eldridge (1896-1973), an American baseball player who spent most of his career in the minor leagues but also had brief stints in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns.
Another prominent Arvie was Arvie Harriman (1891-1986), an American lawyer and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing New York from 1955 to 1957.
In the realm of arts and culture, Arvie Stidham (1917-1989) was an American actor known for his roles in several popular Western films and television series during the mid-20th century.
Arvie Risten (1920-1987) was a Norwegian-American author and playwright who gained recognition for his works that explored the experiences of Norwegian immigrants in the United States.
Lastly, Arvie Smith (1938-2012) was an American blues musician and singer-songwriter who was a prominent figure in the Chicago blues scene, releasing several critically acclaimed albums throughout his career.
People
Arvie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arvie 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
Arvie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arvie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arvie 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 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Arvie a common name?
We classify Arvie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 749 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arvie most popular?
The single biggest year for Arvie was 1917, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arvie is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arvie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 318 people with the name Arvie, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,322 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 Arvie 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 Arvie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arvie on both sides of the split. Of the 315 people counted with this name, 213 were male (67.6%) and 102 were female (32.4%). 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 Arvie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvie is White at 53.8%. The next largest groups are Black (22.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (18.9%). 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 Arvie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arvie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.8% (171 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 Arvie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arvie a male name?
Yes, 64.0% of people registered as Arvie 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 Arvie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arvie 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 Arvie 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 common is the name Arvie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Arvie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.