Arthur

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Arthur

Gender: Masculine
Language: English, French
Etymology:
Arthur is a very famous name with a very unclear origin. One theory states that Arthur is a form of an old Roman family name, Artorius (according to the Wikipedia it means “plowman”).

Another claims it comes from a Celtic name, Artair, which meant “Bear” or “Strong,” from the elements “art” (stone) or “artos” (bear).

History:
The historical Artorius (if he even existed) was likely a British chieftain of the 6th century who led Romanized Britain (then a domain of the Celts) against the Saxon invaders. He may have been of Roman heritage, or Celtic heritage, or both.

Artorius became the romanticized, chivalrous King Arthur of medieval legend. The early English form of the name was Artur; it gained an “h” in the 16th century. The was used only occasionally until recent times. In the Middle Ages it was most often found in the border country, between England and Wales, but it was fairly rare.

The Arthurian legends, oddly enough, became popular in the Norman courts of medieval Europe from Normandy in France to Sicily in Italy and beyond.

Arthur was rarely used in the English royalty, and two princes named Arthur both died as boys (Arthur, Duke of Brittany and Arthur Tudor). This did not help its popularity.

However in the 19th century, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, a general interest in medieval times, and the popularity of the Duke of Wellington (forenamed Arthur), led to a surge of popularity for the name.

Pronunciation: ARR-thurr, ARR-toor

Diminutives:
English: Art, Arth, Artie, Arty.
Finnish: Arto, Arttu.

Alternates: Artur.
Breton: Arzhur.
Finnish: Artturi.
French: Artus, Auhert.
Hawaiian: Aka.
Hungarian: Artúr.
Irish Gaelic: Artúr.
Italian: Arturo.
Latin: Artorius.
Scottish Gaelic: Artair.
Spanish: Arturo.
Welsh: Arthwr.

Surnames:
English: Arthurs, Arthur.
French: Arthus, Arthuys, Arthur, Artus.
Irish: McCarter, McCartney, McCaritair, McArtain, McArthur, McArthur, McArtair, McAirter.
Italian: Artusio, Artuso, Artusi, Arturo.
Portuguese: Artur.
Scottish: Carter, MacArthur.

Surnames: Arthurette, Arthurine, Arthura, Arthurina.

Famous Bearers:
Artists and Authors:
Arthur Broke (-1563)
English poet. He wrote The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) which Shakespeare based his play on.
Arthur Henry Hallam (1811-1833)
English poet and Tennyson’s best friend.
Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881)
English poet.
Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922)
German conductor.
Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928)
American painter.
Arthur Machen (Arthur Llewellyn Jones) (1863-1947)
Welsh novelist.
Arthur Morrison (1863-1945)
English writer.
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939)
British artist.
Arthur G. Dove (1880-1946)
American painter.
Artur Schnabel (1882-1951)
Austrian pianist.
Arthur Ransome (1884-1967)
English writer.
Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
Polish-American pianist.
Arthur William Upfield (1888-1964)
Australian novelist.
Artur Rodzinsky (1892-1958)
American conductor.
Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979)
American conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Artur Lundkvist (1906-1991)
Swedish poet.
Artur Balsam (1906-1994)
Polish-American pianist.
Artie Shaw (1910-)
American jazz musician.
Arthur C. Clarke (1917-)
English writer.
Arthur Kopit (1937-)
American playwright.

Educators, Scholars, and Social Workers:
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
German philosopher.
Arthur Giry (1848-1899)
French historians.
Arthur O. Lovejoy (1873-1962)
American philosopher.
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck (1876-1925)
German intellectual who coined the term “Third Reich.”
Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877-1959)
British economist.
Arthur B. Krock (1886-1974)
American political writer.
Arthur David Waley (1889-1966)
English sinologist.
Sir Arthur Lewis (1915-1991)
British economist. Co-winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Economics.
Arthur Sulzberger (1926-)
American journalist.
Arthur Laffer (1940-)
American economist.

Miscellaneous:
Arthur Phillip (1738-1814)
Founder of the first British Australian penal colony.
Arthur Tappan (1786-1865)
American philanthropist and abolitionist.
Sir Arthur William Currie (1875-1933)
Canadian military commander.
Sir Arthur Whitten Brown (1886-1948)
British aviator.
Arthur Ashe (1943-1993)
American tennis player.

Places
Arthur Kill
New York and New Jersey, United States.
Port Arthur
Tasmania, Australia.
Port Arthur
Texas, United States.

Political Figures:
Arthur, Constable de Richemont (1393-1458)
Constable of France who fought under Joan of Arc.
Arthur Lee (1740-1792)
American diplomat.
Arthur Middleton (1742-1787)
A signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852)
British army commander.
Artur Görgey (1818-1916)
Hungarian army officer. Leader of the 1848 Revolution.
Arthur Meighen (1874-1960)
Canadian Prime Minister.
Arthur Vandenberg (1884-1951)
American senator.
Sir Arthur William Fadden (1895-1973)
Briefly the Prime Minister of Australia.
Arthur J. Goldberg (1908-1990)
American associate justice of the Supreme Court and Ambassador to the UN.
Artur London (1915-1986)
Czech Communist official.

Royalty:
King Arthur (Arturios) (6th century)
A legendary king of Britain. Probably based on a Welsh chieftain who resisted the Saxon invaders.
Arthur I of Brittany (1187-1203)
Grandson of King Henry II of England. He was murdered by his uncle, King John.
Arthur II of Brittany (1262-1312)
Duke of Brittany.
Arthur Tudor (1486-1502)
Son of King Henry VII of England, elder brother to the future King Henry VIII, and first husband of Catherine of Aragon.
Arthur, Duke of Connaught (1850-1942)
Third son of Queen Victoria.

Scientists:
Arthur Woolf (1766-1837)
British engineer.
Sir Arthur Cotton (1803-1899)
British irrigation engineer.
Arthur Hantzsch (1857-1935)
German chemist.
Sir Arthur Harden (1865-1940)
English biochemist. Co-winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Sir Arthur Keith (1866-1955)
Scottish anatomist.
Arthur Jeffrey Dempster (1886-1950)
American physicist.
Arthur Emmons Raymond (1899-1999)
American airplane engineer.
Arthur Vineberg (1903-1988)
Canadian heart surgeon.
Arthur Schawlow (1921-1999)
American physicist. Co-winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Singers and Entertainers:
Arthur Godfrey (1903-1983)
American television entertainer.
Arthur Crudup (1905-1974)
American blues singer-songwriter.
Arthur Kennedy (1914-1990)
American actor.
Arthur Penn (1922-)
American film director.

Popularity:
Percentage from the 1990 U.S. Census:
0.335 % of males named Arthur, or 1 out of 300
0.043 % of males named Arturo, or 1 out of 2500
0.009 % of males named Art, or 1 out of 10,000

0.010 % surnamed Arthur
0.004 % surnamed McArthur
0.002 % surnamed MacArthur
0.001 % surnamed Arthurs

Popularity of Arthur:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1800: 140th most popular.
1850: 65th most popular.
1875: 18th most popular.
1880: 14th most popular.
1881: 14th most popular.
1882: 14th most popular.
1883: 14th most popular.
1884: 14th most popular.
1885: 15th most popular.
1886: 14th most popular.
1887: 14th most popular.
1888: 14th most popular.
1889: 14th most popular.
1890: 14th most popular.
1891: 14th most popular.
1892: 14th most popular.
1893: 14th most popular.
1894: 14th most popular.
1895: 14th most popular.
1896: 14th most popular.
1897: 14th most popular.
1898: 14th most popular.
1899: 14th most popular.
1900: 15th most popular.
1901: 14th most popular.
1902: 15th most popular.
1903: 15th most popular.
1904: 15th most popular.
1905: 16th most popular.
1906: 15th most popular.
1907: 16th most popular.
1908: 16th most popular.
1909: 18th most popular.
1910: 17th most popular.
1911: 18th most popular.
1912: 15th most popular.
1913: 17th most popular.
1914: 18th most popular.
1915: 18th most popular.
1916: 18th most popular.
1917: 17th most popular.
1918: 17th most popular.
1919: 19th most popular.
1920: 18th most popular.
1921: 19th most popular.
1922: 19th most popular.
1923: 19th most popular.
1924: 20th most popular.
1925: 20th most popular.
1926: 20th most popular.
1927: 22nd most popular.
1928: 22nd most popular.
1929: 22nd most popular.
1930: 23rd most popular.
1931: 23rd most popular.
1932: 25th most popular.
1933: 25th most popular.
1934: 29th most popular.
1935: 29th most popular.
1936: 30th most popular.
1937: 31st most popular.
1938: 32nd most popular.
1939: 32nd most popular.
1940: 33rd most popular.
1941: 33rd most popular.
1942: 29th most popular.
1943: 30th most popular.
1944: 29th most popular.
1945: 34th most popular.
1946: 36th most popular.
1947: 38th most popular.
1948: 44th most popular.
1949: 44th most popular.
1950: 46th most popular.
1951: 44th most popular.
1952: 47th most popular.
1953: 50th most popular.
1954: 52nd most popular.
1955: 56th most popular.
1956: 60th most popular.
1957: 65th most popular.
1958: 72nd most popular.
1959: 76th most popular.
1960: 82nd most popular.
1961: 85th most popular.
1962: 91st most popular.
1963: 91st most popular.
1964: 89th most popular.
1965: 96th most popular.
1966: 96th most popular.
1967: 94th most popular.
1968: 98th most popular.
1969: 97th most popular.
1970: 111th most popular.
1971: 117th most popular.
1972: 119th most popular.
1973: 119th most popular.
1974: 127th most popular.
1975: 128th most popular.
1976: 137th most popular.
1977: 134th most popular.
1978: 141st most popular.
1979: 143rd most popular.
1980: 147th most popular.
1981: 151st most popular.
1982: 157th most popular.
1983: 157th most popular.
1984: 159th most popular.
1985: 158th most popular.
1986: 170th most popular.
1987: 177th most popular.
1988: 182nd most popular.
1989: 189th most popular.
1990: 204th most popular.
1991: 213th most popular.
1992: 222nd most popular.
1993: 235th most popular.
1994: 249th most popular.
1995: 257th most popular.
1996: 264th most popular.
1997: 288th most popular.
1998: 294th most popular.
1999: 323rd most popular.
2000: 319th most popular.
2001: 321st most popular.
2002: 327th most popular.
2003: 353rd most popular.
2004: 356th most popular.

In France...
1900: 45th most popular.
1910: 52nd most popular.
1920: 62nd most popular.
1930: 81st most popular.
1940: 118th most popular.
1950: 190th most popular.
1961: 186th most popular.
1960-1980: N/A
1984: 190th most popular.
1990: 66th most popular.
2000: 23rd most popular.

Selected Sources:
The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Withycombe, 1977, 3rd ed.
A Dictionary of First Names, Hanks and Hodges, 1990
The Penguin Dictionary of First Names, Pickering, 1999
The Wordsworth Dictionary of First Names, Mcleod and Fr7edman, 1995

The Social Security Administration Actuarial Note 139 (www.ssa.gov) - For popularity stats 1880-Present
The 1880 U.S. Census- For popularity stats 1850-1880, and other information (it is available on-line at www.familysearch.org)