Arvid
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from the Old Norse words "arfr" and "vidr" meaning "inheritance" and "wood".
Name Census estimates that about 929 living Americans carry the first name Arvid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arvid today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arvid births was 1916 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arvid. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Arvid with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arvid is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Arvids were born before 1969.
People living today
929
~ 1 in 368,950 Americans
Peak year
1916
100 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,019
Tracked since 1880
Census
Arvid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,215 people with the first name Arvid, which placed it at #10,798 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,798
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arvid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvid is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Black (3.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Arvid described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Arvid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.0% · 1,069
- Black or African American3.2% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 35
- Two or more races2.1% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 11
Popularity
Arvid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arvid from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 709 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arvid by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Arvid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arvids live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan recorded the most babies named Arvid, while South Dakota, Nebraska, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 107 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arvid
The name Arvid has its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Norse people who inhabited Scandinavia during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old Norse elements "ari" meaning "eagle" and "vidr" meaning "wood" or "tree." The name can be translated to mean "eagle of the woods" or "eagle tree."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arvid can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók (Book of Settlements), a medieval text that chronicles the settlement of Iceland by Norse people in the 9th and 10th centuries. The name is mentioned in reference to Arvid the Blind, a Norwegian Viking who is said to have been one of the first settlers in Iceland.
In Sweden, the name Arvid has a long and illustrious history. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Arvid Posse (1617-1692), a Swedish count and statesman who served as the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden and played a significant role in the Swedish Empire during the 17th century.
Another prominent Swedish figure named Arvid was Arvid Horn (1664-1742), a military officer and politician who served as the President of the Privy Council Chancellery and the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. He was a key figure in the Age of Liberty, a period of parliamentary rule in Sweden during the 18th century.
In Norway, the name Arvid has been used since ancient times. One of the earliest recorded Norwegians with this name was Arvid Hyttefad (1160-1210), a Norwegian nobleman and military commander who fought in the Bagler Wars, a civil war that took place in Norway during the late 12th and early 13th centuries.
Another notable Norwegian named Arvid was Arvid Møller (1872-1943), a shipowner and industrialist who played a significant role in the development of the Norwegian shipping industry in the early 20th century.
In Denmark, the name Arvid has been in use since the Middle Ages. One of the most famous Danes with this name was Arvid Müller (1904-1992), a writer and journalist who was a prominent figure in the Danish resistance movement during World War II.
While the name Arvid has its roots in Old Norse and was prevalent in Scandinavia during the Viking Age and medieval period, it has since spread to other parts of the world and has been used by individuals from various cultural backgrounds.
People
Arvid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arvid as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Arvid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arvid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 929 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arvid going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 368,950 US residents.
Is Arvid a common name?
We classify Arvid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,158 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arvid most popular?
The single biggest year for Arvid was 1916, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arvid is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arvid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,215 people with the name Arvid, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,798 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Arvid in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Arvid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arvid appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,207 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Arvid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvid is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Black (3.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Arvid most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arvid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (1,069 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Arvid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arvid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arvid in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Arvid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arvid in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Arvid can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Arvid?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.