Arthur

Arthur is a very common masculine given name. Its etymology is disputed, but its popularity derives from its being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.

Art and Artie are diminutive forms of the name. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur.

The earliest datable attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text Historia Brittonum, where it refers to a circa 5th to 6th-century Celtic Briton general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem Y Gododdin by Aneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a matter of debate and the poem only survives in a late 13th century manuscript entitled the Book of Aneirin. A 9th-century Breton landowner named Arthur witnessed several charters collected in the Cartulary of Redon.

The Irish borrowed the name by the late 6th century (either from an early Archaic Welsh or Cumbric form Artur), producing Old Irish Artúr (Latinized as Arturius by Adomnán in his Life of St. Columba, written circa 697–700), The earliest historically attested bearer of the name is a son or grandson of Áedán mac Gabráin (died 609).

The exact origins of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artorius. Artorius is of obscure and contested etymology, but is possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin. According to the linguist and Celticist Stefan Zimmer, it is possible that Artorius has a Celtic origin, being a Latinization of the hypothetical name *Artorījos, derived from the patronym *Arto-rīg-ios, meaning "Son of the Bear/Warrior-King". *Arto-rīg-ios is unattested, but the root, *arto-rīg, "bear/warrior-king", is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí, while the similar *Arto-maglos, "bear-prince", produced names in several Brittonic languages. According to Zimmer's etymology, the Celtic short compositional vowel -o- was lengthened and the long -ī- in the second element of the compound -rījos was shortened by Latin speakers, under the influence of Latin agent nouns ending in -tõr (and their derivatives in -tõrius). Some scholars have noted that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur, Arthurus, or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (although the Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh.

The commonly proposed derivation from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not possible for phonological and orthographic reasons; notably that a Brittonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur (where -u- represents the short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr and not Arthur (where -u- is a long vowel /ʉː/) In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur—never words ending in -wr—which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr "man").

An alternative theory, which has only gained limited acceptance among scholars, derives the name Arthur from the Latin Arcturus (the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear), which is the latinisation of the Greek Αθανάσιος (Athanasios) and means "Immortal". Another form, Arcturus would also have become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes.

Historical

• Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486–1502), elder son of Henry VII of England
• Arthur Ashe (1943–1993), American tennis player
• Arthur Askey (1900–1982), English comedian
• Artur Awejde (1838–1863), Polish commissioner of Augustów Voivodeship during the January Uprising
• Arthur Balfour (1848–1930), earl of Balfour; British politician; prime minister under George V
• Art Baltazar (born 1968), Comic writer and illustrator for DC Super Pets
• Arthur Harold Beal (1896–1992), creator of Nitt Witt Ridge
• Arthur Bluethenthal (1891–1918), American football player
• Arthur Bradfield (1892–1978), English cricketer
• Art Carney (1918–2003), American actor
• Arthur Cayley (1822–1895), British mathematician
• Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), British writer
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), British writer
• Arthur Darvill (born 1982), British actor and musician
• Sir Arthur Eddington (1882–1944), British astrophysicist
• Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941), British archaeologist
• Arthur Fenner (1745–1805), fourth Governor of Rhode Island
• Arthur Frommer (born 1929), American travel writer and publisher
• Arthur J. Gallagher, founder of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
• Art Garfunkel (born 1941), American entertainer
• Count Arthur Gobineau (1816–1882), French polemicist and political and historical writer
• Arthur Godfrey (1903–1983), American radio and television personality
• Arthur Goldberg (1908–1990), American politician and judge
• Arthur Greiser (1897–1946), German Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
• Arthur Guinness (1725–1803), Irish brewer
• Arthur Hailey (1920–2004), British novelist
• Arthur Lawrence Hellyer Jr. (1923–2018), American radio host
• Art Heyman (1941–2012), American NBA basketball player
• Arthur Holden (born 1959), Canadian voice actor
• Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Swiss composer
• Arthur James Johnes (1809–1871), English judge
• Arthur J. Jones (born 1948), American neo-Nazi politician
• Arthur Koestler (1905–1983), British writer
• Arthur Laffer (born 1940), American economist
• Arthur Lee (1945–2006), American musician
• Arthur Liebehenschel (1901–1948), German commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps executed for war crimes
• Art Linkletter (1912–2010), Canadian-born American radio and television personality
• Arthur Loveridge (1891–1980), British herpetologist
• Arthur Lydiard (1917–2004), New Zealand runner and athletics coach
• Arthur MacArthur, Jr., (1845–1912), American soldier
• Arthur "Harpo" Marx (1888–1964), American comedian and musician
• Arthur Meighen (1874–1960), Canadian prime minister in the 1920s
• Arthur Miley (born 1993), American football player
• Arthur Miller (1915–2005), American playwright
• Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844–1881), British poet and herpetologist
• Arthur Uther Pendragon (born 1954), British neo-druid leader
• Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French poet
• Arthur Rödl (1898–1945), German Nazi SS commandant of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp
• Arthur Scargill (born 1938), British miners' union leader
• Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917–2007), American historian
• Arthur Moritz Schoenflies (1853–1928), German mathematician
• Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), German philosopher
• Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946), Austrian Nazi politician
• Art Shamsky (born 1941), American major league baseball player and Israel Baseball League manager
• Arthur Shawcross (1945–2008), American serial killer
• Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), English composer who did operatic collaborations with librettist W. S. Gilbert
• Arthur Tracy (1899–1997), American singer and actor
• Arthur Treacher (1894–1975), English actor
• Arthur Vandenberg (1884–1951), American politician
• Sir Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), duke of Wellington; military commander who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; British Prime Minister 1828–1830 and briefly in 1834

Legendary

• King Arthur, king of Britain in the Arthurian legend

Fictional characters

• Arthur Morgan, the main character of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2
• Arthur Denison, the main character of the Dinotopia book series
• Ser Arthur Dayne, a character from A Song of Ice and Fire book series
• Arthur Curry, Aquaman
• Arthur Shelby, a character from the Peaky Blinders (TV series)
• Arthur Fleck, the main character in Joker (2019 film)

• Albanian: Artur
• Amharic: አርተር
• Arabic: أرثر, ارثور, ارتور
• Armenian: Արթուր (Art'ur)
• Basque: Artur, Artza
• Bengali: আর্থার (Ārthāra)
• Breton: Arzhur
• Bulgarian: Артур (Artur)
• Catalan: Artur, Artús
• Chinese: Simplified: 亚瑟 (Yàsè), 阿瑟 (Āsè), 阿图尔 (Ātúěr) Traditional: 亞瑟 (Yàsè), 阿瑟 (Āsè), 阿圖爾 (Ātúěr)
• Croatian: Artur
• Czech: Artuš, Artur
• Danish: Arthur
• Dutch: Arthur, Artuur
• Estonian: Artur, Ats
• English: Arthur
• Finnish: Artturi, Arttu, Arto
• French: Arthur
• Galician: Artur, Artús
• Georgian: ართური (Arturi)
• German: Artur, Arthur
• Greek: Αρθούρος (Arthouros/Artouros)
• Gujarati: આર્થર (Ārthara)
• Hebrew: ארתור (Artur)
• Hindi: आर्थर (aarthar)
• Hungarian: Artúr
• Icelandic: Arthur
• Inuktitut: ᐋᑐᕐ (aatur)
• Irish: Artúr
• Italian: Arturo
• Japanese: アーサー (Āsā) (in katakana)
• Kannada: ಆರ್ಥರ್‌ (Ārthar‌)
• Korean: 아서 (Aseo), 아써 (Asseo), 아더 (Adeo)
• Kurdish: ئارتەر
• Latin: Arturus/Arthurus, Artorius/Arturius
• Latvian: Artūrs
• Lithuanian: Artūras
• Malayalam: ആർതർ (ārtar)
• Maldivian: އަރތަރ
• Maltese: Arturu, Turu
• Nāhuatl: Arthur
• Norman: Èrthu
• Norwegian: Artur
• Ossetian: Артур (Artur)
• Patois: Aata
• Persian: آرتور
• Polish: Artur
• Portuguese: Artur, Arthur (archaic spelling, still common in Brazil)
• Punjabi: Gurmukhi script: ਆਰਥਰ (Ārathara), Shahmukhi script: آرتھر
• Romanian: Arthur, Artur
• Russian: Артур (Artur)
• Serbian: Артур (Artur)
• Sinhalese: ආතර් (ātar)
• Slovakian: Artúr
• Slovenian: Artur
• Spanish: Arturo
• Swedish: Artur
• Thai: อาร์เธอร์ (Xār̒ṭhexr̒)
• Turkish: Artur
• Ukrainian: Артур (Artur)
• Urdu: آرتھر
• Uzbek: Artur
• Welsh: Arthur