Arvil
An Americanized form of the Spanish surname Arvizu, derived from the Basque place name "Arvi".
Name Census estimates that about 746 living Americans carry the first name Arvil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arvil today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arvil births was 1924 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arvil. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arvil is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Arvils were born before 1961.
People living today
746
~ 1 in 459,456 Americans
Peak year
1924
79 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1989 SSA rank
#7,008
Tracked since 1892
Census
Arvil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 768 people with the first name Arvil, which placed it at #15,091 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
#15,091
National first-name rank
People counted
768
768 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arvil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvil is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Arvil 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 Arvil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.6% · 688
- Black or African American5.2% · 40
- Two or more races2.1% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 7
Popularity
Arvil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arvil from the 1890s through to the 1980s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 666 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
Arvil 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 Arvil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arvils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas recorded the most babies named Arvil, while Ohio, Missouri, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arvil
The name Arvil is believed to have its origins in Old Norse, the language spoken by the Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age. It is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "arfr," meaning inheritance or legacy, and "vili," meaning desire or will.
In the ancient Norse culture, names often carried significant meaning and were chosen to reflect the hopes and aspirations of the parents for their child. The combination of "arfr" and "vili" in the name Arvil may have symbolized the desire for the child to inherit a legacy of strength, courage, and determination.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arvil can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of stories and tales that document the lives of the Norse settlers in Iceland during the 9th to 11th centuries. The name is mentioned in the Saga of Grettir the Strong, which tells the story of the legendary Icelandic outlaw and warrior, Grettir Ásmundarson.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Arvil. One such person was Arvil the Red, a Norse chieftain who led his clan in the conquest of the Faroe Islands in the 9th century. Another was Arvil the Wise, a scholar and philosopher who lived in the 12th century and was renowned for his knowledge of ancient Norse culture and traditions.
In the 13th century, an Icelandic poet named Arvil Árnason gained fame for his poetic works, which celebrated the exploits of Norse heroes and warriors. A century later, Arvil Thorvaldsson was a prominent figure in the Kalmar Union, a political and economic union that brought together the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single monarch.
One of the most well-known individuals with the name Arvil was Arvil Erlandsson, a Swedish military commander who played a crucial role in the Northern Seven Years' War against Denmark and Norway in the 16th century. His strategic leadership and valor on the battlefield earned him a place in Swedish military history.
While the name Arvil has its roots in ancient Norse culture, it has since spread to other parts of the world, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. However, its enduring legacy lies in its connection to the rich heritage and traditions of the Norse people, who valued strength, courage, and the pursuit of a noble legacy.
People
Arvil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arvil 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
Arvil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arvil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 746 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arvil 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 459,456 US residents.
Is Arvil a common name?
We classify Arvil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,589 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arvil most popular?
The single biggest year for Arvil was 1924, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arvil is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arvil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 768 people with the name Arvil, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,091 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 Arvil 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 Arvil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arvil leans strongly male. 754 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 12 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Arvil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arvil is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Arvil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arvil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (688 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 Arvil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arvil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arvil 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 Arvil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arvil 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 Arvil 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 common is the name Arvil?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.