Arbutus
Arbutus was last recorded in 1961, when 5 babies were given it; 1,075 Americans have been recorded with it between 1906 and 1961 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Arbutus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Arbutus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,616, in 1961; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
50 babies in 1927, the peak
Arbutus peaked in 1927, when 50 girls were given it, #1,081 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 5 | #6,616 | 2.5 |
| 1955 | 5 | #5,864 | 2.6 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,292 | 4.1 |
| 1953 | 7 | #4,608 | 3.7 |
| 1951 | 6 | #4,860 | 3.3 |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,328 | 2.9 |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,185 | 6.4 |
| 1948 | 10 | #3,360 | 5.9 |
| 1947 | 18 | #2,355 | 10.2 |
| 1946 | 10 | #3,230 | 6.4 |
Every recorded year (49)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 12 | #2,606 | 9.2 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,769 | 8.3 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,450 | 10.0 |
| 1942 | 21 | #1,863 | 15.5 |
| 1941 | 15 | #2,191 | 12.4 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,848 | 16.6 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,642 | 20.1 |
| 1938 | 22 | #1,653 | 19.9 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,679 | 19.7 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,953 | 15.4 |
| 1935 | 22 | #1,606 | 21.0 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,442 | 24.9 |
| 1933 | 37 | #1,160 | 36.7 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,524 | 23.4 |
| 1931 | 39 | #1,149 | 36.6 |
| 1930 | 37 | #1,233 | 32.9 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,708 | 19.7 |
| 1928 | 30 | #1,427 | 26.0 |
| 1927 | 50 | #1,081 | 41.9 |
| 1926 | 41 | #1,199 | 34.6 |
| 1925 | 33 | #1,411 | 27.1 |
| 1924 | 40 | #1,259 | 32.0 |
| 1923 | 43 | #1,178 | 35.6 |
| 1922 | 45 | #1,145 | 37.5 |
| 1921 | 35 | #1,341 | 28.4 |
| 1920 | 46 | #1,103 | 38.4 |
| 1919 | 34 | #1,325 | 30.1 |
| 1918 | 40 | #1,186 | 34.6 |
| 1917 | 28 | #1,402 | 25.9 |
| 1916 | 40 | #1,114 | 38.3 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,478 | 24.4 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,743 | 19.7 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,893 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,624 | 21.5 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,552 | 23.9 |
| 1910 | 14 | #1,210 | 35.3 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,975 | 17.3 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,121 | 15.0 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,564 | 23.7 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Arbutus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Arbutus has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 49 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Arbutus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Arbutus, and how old are they?
An estimated 165 Americans named Arbutus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (15% of everyone recorded); the median is 84 years old and half are between 78 and 89. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 242 people named Arbutus (237 women and girls, 5 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 273 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Arbutus born?
The states with the most babies named Arbutus are West Virginia, Michigan and Virginia, with 87% of its births recorded by state since 1910; West Virginia and Virginia are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 189 | not ranked | 9.7× |
| Michigan | 69 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Virginia | 46 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Wisconsin | 18 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Indiana | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Kentucky | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| North Carolina | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Arbutus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Arbutus is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1910 it was given 9.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Arbutus with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Arbutus
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Arbutus and names like it
- Compare Arbutus and WanetaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sArbutus peaked in 1927.
- West Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Arbutus since 1910.
- The top names of 1927The year the most babies were named Arbutus.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Arbutus alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with AMost given first.