Arthur
Meaning of Arthur
Arthur is a name that rides through history like a knight on a polished stallion, its Celtic roots—most likely from artos, “bear,” or the Roman family name Artorius—lending the quiet, muscular grace of a dozing ursine guardian. In English it’s pronounced AHR-thur, a crisp cadence that snaps off the tongue much like the strum of a well-tuned mandolin. Legend drapes it in royal velvet: King Arthur, Camelot, the Round Table, all glimmering with Arthurian lore as irresistible as a moonlit stroll along the Arno. Italians, ever fond of epic sagas and long evening passeggiate, hear in its steady rhythm the sonorous toll of church bells rolling down a Tuscan hillside—solid, reassuring, and just a touch romantic. After a mid-century siesta, the name has woken refreshed; climbing back up the American charts, it proves that true nobility, like a fine Barolo, only grows richer with time. Literary yet playful—think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on one shelf, Arthur the aardvark on another—it offers a generous canvas: professor or poet, engineer or explorer, every future feels comfortably at home beneath its storied crown. For parents seeking a timeless choice with a hint of freshly pulled espresso, Arthur is a blend that never goes out of style.
Pronunciation
British English
- Pronunced as AHR-thur (/ˈɑːθər/)
American English
- Pronunced as AHR-thur (/ˈɑr.θər/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Arthur
| Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher whose 1818 work The World as Will and Representation cast reality as blind will and advanced an atheistic break from German idealism. |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician who created Sherlock Holmes in 1887 and wrote four novels and 56 stories that became landmarks of crime fiction. |
| Arthur Morton Godfrey was a major American radio and television entertainer who in the early to mid 1950s hosted multiple CBS shows like Arthur Godfrey Time and Talent Scouts, broadcasting as often as six days a week. |
| Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet whose radical, dreamlike verse transformed modern literature and anticipated surrealism. |
| Arthur Ashe was an American tennis champion who won three Grand Slam singles titles, became the first Black US Davis Cup player, and is the only Black man to win singles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. |
| Arthur William Currie rose from militia gunner to lead the Canadian Corps in World War I, innovating trench tactics and earning a reputation as one of Canada’s greatest commanders. |
| Arthur Rubinstein was a Polish American pianist widely hailed as one of the greatest, celebrated for his Chopin interpretations and a public career spanning eight decades. |
| Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. - Arthur Schlesinger Jr. was an American historian of 20th century liberalism who advised Adlai Stevenson, served President John F. Kennedy, and won a Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Days. |
| Arthur Rackham was a leading English book illustrator of the Golden Age, known for robust pen and ink drawings blended with watercolor shaped by his journalistic background. |
| Arthur Frank Burns was an American economist and diplomat who chaired the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978, previously chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Eisenhower, served as Counselor to President Nixon in 1969, and taught at Rutgers, Columbia, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. |
| Sir Arthur Henry Rostron was the British Cunard captain of RMS Carpathia who led the 1912 rescue of Titanic survivors. |
| Sir Arthur George Tansley was an English botanist and a pioneer of modern ecology. |
| Sir Arthur Helps was an English writer and dean of the Privy Council, a Cambridge Apostle, and an early advocate of animal rights. |
| Arthur Kornberg was an American biochemist who shared the 1959 Nobel Prize for uncovering how cells synthesize RNA and DNA and later received major honors including the National Medal of Science. |
| Arthur Wharton was a British footballer widely regarded as the first black professional and the first to play in the Football League, though earlier black amateurs predated him. |
