Dartagnan
French masculine given name derived from the Gascon area, meaning "from the oak estate".
Name Census estimates that about 1,080 living Americans carry the first name Dartagnan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dartagnan today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dartagnan births was 1999 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dartagnan. 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.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 317,365 Americans
Peak year
1999
67 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,952
Tracked since 1960
Popularity
Dartagnan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dartagnan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 362 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dartagnan 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 Dartagnan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dartagnans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dartagnan, while Florida, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dartagnan
The given name Dartagnan is believed to have originated as a regional French name, likely from the Gascony region in southwestern France during the 16th or 17th century. Some linguists suggest it may have derived from the Occitan/Gascon language words "d'Artagnan" meaning "from Artagnan", with "Artagnan" potentially referring to a specific place name. However, the exact etymology remains uncertain.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Dartagnan comes from the literary works of Alexandre Dumas, the famous 19th-century French author. In his novel "The Three Musketeers", first published in 1844, the protagonist is a young Gascon named d'Artagnan who joins the Musketeers of the Guard. This fictional character's adventures have contributed significantly to the popularity of the name Dartagnan.
In terms of historical figures bearing this name, the earliest recorded example is Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan, a French soldier and captain of the Musketeers of the Guard, who lived from circa 1611 to 1673. Dumas is believed to have based his fictional character on this real-life figure, although the author took significant creative liberties with the details of his life.
Another notable figure with the name Dartagnan was Louis Melchior Delcambre d'Artagnan, a French naval officer and explorer who lived from 1744 to 1803. He is known for his explorations of the Pacific Ocean and his role in expanding French influence in the region.
In the realm of literature, the author Roger Grenier, born in 1919 and died in 2017, used the pen name Dartagnan during his writing career. He was a respected French novelist, essayist, and literary critic.
Lastly, in the world of sports, there is Dartagnan Gillenwater, an American football player who played as a linebacker for several teams in the National Football League (NFL) between 2003 and 2011. He was born in 1980 and is one of the few modern examples of individuals with the given name Dartagnan.
People
Dartagnan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dartagnan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dartagnan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dartagnan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,080 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dartagnan 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 317,365 US residents.
Is Dartagnan a common name?
We classify Dartagnan as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dartagnan most popular?
The single biggest year for Dartagnan was 1999, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dartagnan is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dartagnan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dartagnan 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.
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.