Names/A

Arthur

boys’ nameRisingCompare

Arthur is ranked 105th among boys in 2024 (3,318 births). Its best rank was 14th, in 1880–1884, 1886–1899, 1901.

Rank in 2024
#105up 25 from 2023
Births in 2024
3,3180.19% of boys
Peak year
192110,527 births
Best rank
#14first in 1880
Since 1880
548,057people given the name
Babies named Arthur, by year of birthboys
05k10k15k20k18801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

544,857 boys have been named Arthur in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1921, with 10,527 births — 0.96% of all boys recorded that year.

It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago (rank 306 → 105).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1938, and the 1920s alone account for 18%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 90 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,200 girls have also been given it, 0.58% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Arthur
1880s16,180
1890s16,349
1900s15,409
1910s67,478
1920s97,112
1930s67,730
1940s73,966
1950s65,720
1960s39,620
1970s22,102
1980s16,795
1990s11,782
2000s8,341
2010s12,626
2020s13,647

In 1921, its biggest year

Arthur was the 19th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1921 were John, Robert, William, James and Charles. See all of 1921.

Names that rose and fell with Arthur

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.