Remus
One of the twin brothers raised by a wolf in Roman mythology.
Name Census estimates that about 585 living Americans carry the first name Remus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Remus today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Remus births was 2019 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Remus. 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
585
~ 1 in 585,905 Americans
Peak year
2019
28 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,648
Tracked since 1889
Popularity
Remus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Remus from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 147 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Remus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Remus 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 Remus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Remus' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Remus
The given name Remus has its origins in ancient Roman mythology and culture, dating back to the 8th century BC. It is derived from the Latin word "remus," meaning "oar" or "paddle," reflecting the nautical history of the Roman civilization near the Tiber River.
Remus is most famously associated with the legendary founding of Rome. According to Roman mythology, Remus and his twin brother Romulus were the sons of the war god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. They were abandoned as infants and raised by a she-wolf before eventually founding the city of Rome. Tragically, Remus was killed by Romulus in a dispute over the city's location and naming rights.
The story of Romulus and Remus is prominently featured in Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, written between 29 and 19 BC. This work played a significant role in cementing the twins' place in Roman folklore and perpetuating the use of their names.
One of the earliest recorded individuals named Remus was a Roman general who lived in the 4th century BC. Remus Fanius Caepio commanded Roman forces during the Samnite Wars and is mentioned in historical accounts by writers such as Livy.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Remus. These include Remus of Auxerre (c. 437-533), a French theologian and scholar who authored commentaries on the Bible, and Remus of Lunel (c. 1150-1225), a French-Jewish scholar and commentator on the Talmud.
In more recent times, Remus Lupin, a character from the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling, has helped to popularize the name. Lupin, born in 1960, was a werewolf and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Other famous individuals named Remus include Remus Reid (1776-1844), an American politician and judge from Virginia, and Remus Bernardin (1928-1996), an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Chicago.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Remus
People
Remus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Remus as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Remus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Remus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Remus 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 585,905 US residents.
Is Remus a common name?
We classify Remus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Remus most popular?
The single biggest year for Remus was 2019, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Remus is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Remus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Remus 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.