Humanverse

Artelia vs Arthur

American parents have registered 551,930 Arthurs since 1880, against 593 Artelias. Arthur is still ahead, with 3,847 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Artelia against Arthur, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Artelia Arthur

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Arthur has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1910, when Artelia had 13 and Arthur had 1,956.

Side by side

  Artelia Arthur
Total US births 593551,930
Most in one year 2210,579
Babies in 2025 under 53,847
Estimated living today 180206,000
Median age today 7061
Peak year 19171921
Best rank 1,652nd girls19th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked87th
First recorded 18821880
Girls / boys 593 / 03,201 / 548,729

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Artelias alive today are over 70; half the Arthurs are over 61. That is 9 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Artelia and Arthur.