Arvilla
A feminine name of Old English origin meaning "from the land growing grain".
Name Census estimates that about 301 living Americans carry the first name Arvilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arvilla today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arvilla births was 1924 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arvilla. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arvilla is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Arvillas were born before 1954.
People living today
301
~ 1 in 1,138,719 Americans
Peak year
1924
96 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1968 SSA rank
#5,173
Tracked since 1880
Census
Arvilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 618 people with the first name Arvilla, which placed it at #17,693 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
#17,693
National first-name rank
People counted
618
618 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arvilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvilla is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.9%). 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 Arvilla 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 Arvilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.4% · 540
- Black or African American7.6% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 12
- Two or more races1.6% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 4
Popularity
Arvilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arvilla from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 760 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
Arvilla 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 Arvilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arvillas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Arvilla, while Utah, Indiana, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arvilla
The given name Arvilla finds its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, believed to have emerged around the 3rd century AD. It is a combination of the Germanic elements "arn," meaning eagle, and "vil," meaning desire or will. The name can be interpreted as "the desire of an eagle" or "the will of an eagle," reflecting the reverence for these majestic birds in Germanic culture.
In its earliest recorded use, Arvilla appeared in medieval Germanic texts and records, often bestowed upon individuals with a strong, determined spirit. One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Arvilla von Aachen, a noblewoman from the Rhineland region of present-day Germany, who lived in the 11th century and was renowned for her unwavering valor during the Crusades.
The name Arvilla also held significance in Scandinavia, where it was associated with the Norse goddess Freyja, the guardian of fertility, love, and beauty. Ancient Norse sagas and poems often depicted valkyries, the female warriors who escorted fallen heroes to Valhalla, bearing names like Arvilla, symbolizing their strength and fearlessness.
In the 12th century, the name gained popularity among the nobility in parts of modern-day France and England, where it was sometimes spelled as "Arvil" or "Arville." One notable bearer was Arvilla de Montfort (1182-1233), a French noblewoman known for her patronage of the arts and her influence in the courts of King John and King Henry III of England.
As the name spread across Europe, it also found its way into religious texts and records. Arvilla von Regensburg (1305-1376), a German mystic and Benedictine nun, was celebrated for her piety and her writings on spiritual life. Her legacy contributed to the enduring use of the name among Christian communities.
In more recent centuries, the name Arvilla continued to be embraced by individuals of various backgrounds, including Arvilla Sandin (1868-1942), a Swedish-American educator and advocate for women's rights, and Arvilla Ralston (1908-1998), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Hollywood films during the 1930s.
While the name Arvilla has maintained a presence throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon, lending it a sense of uniqueness and distinction. Its rich heritage and symbolic connections to strength, determination, and the majestic eagle continue to captivate those who appreciate the depth and significance of ancient names.
People
Arvilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arvilla 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
Arvilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arvilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 301 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arvilla 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 1,138,719 US residents.
Is Arvilla a common name?
We classify Arvilla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,931 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arvilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Arvilla was 1924, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arvilla is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arvilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 618 people with the name Arvilla, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,693 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 Arvilla 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 Arvilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arvilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 618 people counted with this name, 99.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Arvilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvilla is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.9%). 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 Arvilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arvilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (540 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 Arvilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arvilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arvilla 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 Arvilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arvilla 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 Arvilla 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 Arvilla?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Arvilla on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.