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Macarthur

#11,485 in 2025Boys' name

Scottish surname transferred into given-name use

Macarthur has been given to 1,291 babies in the U.S. since 1941. In 2025 it ranked #11,485 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1942, with 142 recorded.

Babies named Macarthur, 2025

1 in 553,000

Macarthur over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Macarthur: meaning, origin, and history

Scottish surname transferred into given-name use

Scottish surname transfer

What Macarthur means

Macarthur is a given name.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Macarthur is used in English (American).

The naming story behind Macarthur

Macarthur is a given name adopted from Scottish surname. This establishes the immediate naming route. A surname transfer is different from a direct translation of the modern given-name spelling; the family name may have its own earlier derivation.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,291 boys were recorded with the name Macarthur between 1941 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 142 in 1942; its best national rank was #513 in 1942.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,375 in 2020 to #11,485 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,171 in 2015 to #11,485 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 Macarthur?

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
#11,485
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Macarthur 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 Macarthur. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Macarthurs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Macarthur was born before 1970 — so the typical Macarthur is around 55 today.

Median birth year
1970
About 55 years old
Biggest decade
1940s
27.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
21.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
934
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1940s — 27.7% of all recorded uses (357).

Is Macarthur 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
−964
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−6,110
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−5,314
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.43×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
4.2%
Peak was 1942 (142)
Years since peak
83
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#513
1942

Spellings of Macarthur

Macarthur is not the most common spelling — Mcarthur is, with 63.8% against Macarthur's 36.2%.

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 Macarthur is used

Across 1910–2025, Macarthur was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 411,621 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 50,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in 100,000
  3. 3Arkansas1 in —
  4. 4California1 in —
  5. 5Georgia1 in —
  6. 6Illinois1 in —
  7. 7Kentucky1 in —
  8. 8North Carolina1 in —

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. Macarthur has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Macarthur around the world

Where Macarthur 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.

  • Canada
    2018–2018
    #2,536
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    2008–2008
    #726
    in 2008

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Macarthur by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,485
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 6,110
Best rank ever
#513
1942
Peak year
1942
142 that year
First recorded
1941
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,291
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Macarthur

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

MacallanMackenzieMacklinMacarioMacaulayMacauleyMackieMackinnonMackinleyMaclainMacintyreMacgregorMacariusMacksonMackeyMacsenMacenMacedonioMaclinMacdonaldMacklenMaclaneMaconMachai

Sibling names for Macarthur

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 Macarthur

Top names of 1942, Macarthur's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1942Boys' names starting with M