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Art

#3,381 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly bear, through Arthur

Art has been given to 6,146 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,381 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1961, with 189 recorded.

Babies named Art, 2025

1 in 97,500

Art over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Art: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly bear, through Arthur

Celtic languages and Old Irish

What Art means

Art belongs to the name family reached through Art → Arthur. Its meaning is “bear”.

Origin, language, and formation

Art is used in English and Scottish Gaelic. Its origins include Celtic languages and Old Irish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Arthur.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Scottish Gaelic, Art is pronounced /arˠʃt̪/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,141 boys were recorded with the name Art between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 189 in 1961; its best national rank was #418 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,819 in 2020 to #3,381 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,728 in 2015 to #3,381 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Art between 1918 and 1918. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1918; its best national rank was #4,867 in 1918.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Art?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 97,500
34 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 50,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,381
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
67,586 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Art 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 67,586 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Art. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Arts were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Art was born before 1953 — so the typical Art is around 72 today.

Median birth year
1953
About 72 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
18.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
7.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
3,235
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 18.3% of all recorded uses (1,123).

Is Art 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
+515
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+438
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,347
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.70×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
18.0%
Peak was 1961 (189)
Years since peak
64
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#418
1881

Where Art is used

Across 1910–2025, Art was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 50,378 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

08 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 12,500
  2. 2Arizona1 in 33,333
  3. 3Illinois1 in 33,333
  4. 4Michigan1 in 33,333
  5. 5Washington1 in 33,333
  6. 6Ohio1 in 50,000
  7. 7Texas1 in 50,000
  8. 8Iowa1 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. Art has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Art around the world

Where Art ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2025
    #2,014
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2021–2025
    #344
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1965–2025
    #329
    in 2025
  • France
    2003–2025
    #4,010
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2017–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1974–1998
    #534
    in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Art

People whose public names include Art, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Art in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Art. Linked forms have their own page here.

ArtieArtonArturArtyom

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Art by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,381
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 438
Best rank ever
#418
1881
Peak year
1961
189 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,141
Count in 2025
34

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,867
1918
Peak year
1918
5 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
1918
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Art

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

ArtisArtieArtherArtemArturHartArtemioArtinArthBartArtistArturoArthorArtemisMartArtezArtemusHobartArtyomArtyArtaStewartStuartTaggart

Names with a curve like Art

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Art, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WallyBernieCurtissSalDellDennieGlynnJeroldDwainLenBartonKennith

Sibling names for Art

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 Art

Top names of 1961, Art's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881Boys' names starting with A