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Arthur Name Meaning, Origins & History

Arthur

Pronunciation: AHR-thur

Meaning Possibly Bear Origin Celtic Gender Boy
BOYS RANK
#87
TREND
18
Peak Years
1921, 1920, 1924
Lowest Years
2010, 2006, 2004
Energy Archetype
Powerful & Complete

Rank shows the name’s position among U.S. baby names for each gender in 2025. Trend shows how many places it rose or fell since 2024. Rank 1 is the most popular. Based on U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Peak and lowest years are based on the number of boys named Arthur in the available records.

Fun Facts About the Name Arthur

  • An all-time favorite: U.S. records show 548,704 boys named Arthur from 1880 through 2025.
  • Back among the favorites: Arthur returned to the U.S. top 100 in 1883 and stayed there for 1 consecutive years, through 2025.
  • More than 551 thousand babies named Arthur: U.S. records list 551,904 babies given the name Arthur from 1880 through 2025. Even 3,200 girls received the name Arthur - about 1 girl for every 171 boys.

What Does the Name Arthur Mean?

Arthur is usually explained as a Celtic name meaning "bear man" or "bear hero." It is built from a Celtic word for "bear" - Welsh arth, Irish art - together with a second element often identified as a word for "man" or "hero." The familiar English meaning, "bear man," comes from this reading.

That reading is not certain. Some scholars reconstruct a compound closer to "bear king," using a Celtic word for king (-rīx). Others argue that the Welsh name Arthur was borrowed from the Latin family name Artorius, whose own origin is obscure and may not be Celtic at all; if so, the bear meaning would be a later association rather than the name's source. A further suggestion connects the name to Greek Arktouros, "bear watcher" (the star Arcturus), but this has less support. What is agreed is that the name is old in Welsh and other Celtic languages; whether its root is a native Celtic compound or the Latin Artorius remains unresolved.

Arthur Name History & Origins

The earliest form often cited is the Latin Artorius, a Roman family name borne by, among others, Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman officer who served in Britain in the second century. Whether this name and the later Welsh Arthur are connected is debated, and the officer is not a documented source of the legend.

Arthur appears in Welsh sources of the early Middle Ages. The Welsh poem Y Gododdin, preserved in a later manuscript, praises a warrior by comparing him to Arthur, and the ninth-century Historia Brittonum credits Arthur with a series of victories, including Mount Badon. The tenth-century Annales Cambriae dates Badon and records Arthur's death. These are the earliest surviving references to the legendary figure; they show the name in use among Welsh speakers but do not indicate when it was first coined.

The name spread widely in the Middle Ages after Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (around 1136) turned Arthur into a king of international legend. French, German, and English romances followed, and forms of the name appear in Breton, Cornish, and Irish, where the separate name Art was also in use. In England the name stayed uncommon through the later Middle Ages, surviving strongly in Wales.

Arthur was used in the Tudor royal family: Henry VII named his eldest son Arthur in 1486. It returned to regular use in Britain by the nineteenth century, borne by figures such as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, a son of Queen Victoria, while Tennyson's Idylls of the King (published from 1859) renewed literary interest in the Arthurian stories. The name has remained in use in English-speaking countries and in Brittany and Wales.

How Popular is the Name Arthur?

Arthur ranked among the top 100 U.S. names from 1880 through 1969, then returned in 2025 and remained through 2025.

U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.

Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.

Famous People Named Arthur

Arthur Clarke
Arthur Clarke
Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen

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How the Name Arthur Shapes Your Personality and Life?

Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.

You are seeking freedom, opportunities to enjoy life: to make love, to go places and to do things. You are very adventurous and willing to take risk to achieve your objectives. New ways and new experiences can't satisfy your restless nature. One adventure leads you to another. You are honest and fair, because you know that this is the only way to receive justice and honesty from other people. But your personal growth is vital for you, and it is difficult to be tied down by rules and obligations. Your restless spirit might best controlled by choosing the field of work that meet your demand for action and adventure.

✦ Arthur's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Arthur's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.
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