Arthur

The meaning of Arthur is unknown; it may come from Celtic elements *artos “bear” and either *wiros “man” or *rīxs “king,” or from the obscure Roman family name Artorius. Arthur is the central figure of Arthurian legend, a 6th-century king of the Britons who resisted Saxon invaders and may or may not have been based on a real person. He appears first in Welsh poems and chronicles, perhaps briefly in the 7th-century Y Gododdin and more clearly in the 9th-century History of the Britons, but his character was developed later in the 12th-century works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and then expanded by French and English writers. The name became common in England during the Middle Ages because of Arthurian romances and rose in popularity again in the 19th century. Notable bearers include Arthur Schopenhauer, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Arthur has risen sharply in the modern US rankings, moving from #316 in 2000 to #87 in 2025. It now stands at #87 for boys. Its highest annual birth count came in 1921, with 10,527 births.