Name Awesome

Argus

#10,791 in 2025Boys' name

Glistening, shining

Argus has been given to 205 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #10,791 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Argus, 2025

1 in 553,000

Argus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Argus: meaning, origin, and history

Glistening, shining

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Argus means

Argus means “glistening, shining”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 205 boys were recorded with the name Argus between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1921; its best national rank was #2,054 in 1912.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,545 in 2020 to #10,791 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Argus?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#10,791
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Argus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Argus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Arguss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Argus was born before 1925 — so the typical Argus is around 100 today.

Median birth year
1925
About 100 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
37.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
16.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
33
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 37.1% of all recorded uses (76).

Is Argus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,246
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
46.2%
Peak was 1921 (13)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,054
1912

Spellings of Argus

Argus is not the most common spelling — Marcus is, with 52.8% against Argus's 0.04%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Argus is used

Across 1910–2025, Argus was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 116,985 across all states with data.

11 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arkansas1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Argus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Argus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,791
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,246
Best rank ever
#2,054
1912
Peak year
1921
13 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
205
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Argus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ArgieArgelAengusArgilArgyleArgleFergusArgenisArgelioArgoWilgusArgylAugusArgelisArgeneAngusArgustaMargusNegusArgenizArgenysRodrigusRodregusHargus

Sibling names for Argus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Argus

Top names of 1921, Argus's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1912Boys' names starting with AFantasy Boy Names