boy's name
Arsène
ar-SEN
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (France)
- Births on record 20,658
France
#161
2025 births
Arsène is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "male" or "virile," and in France it belongs above all to a fictional gentleman thief. It ranks 161st in France and is rising in our data.
- Arsène is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 2019, when 445 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 1,593 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
Arsène over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 3,150 |
| 1910s | 2,485 |
| 1920s | 2,770 |
| 1930s | 1,790 |
| 1940s | 1,015 |
| 1950s | 955 |
| 1960s | 520 |
| 1970s | 215 |
| 1980s | 145 |
| 1990s | 375 |
| 2000s | 1,365 |
| 2010s | 3,385 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,360 |
What Arsène means
Arsène means male, manly or virile, from the Greek arsen. The word is the plain adjective for masculine, so the name asserts maleness itself rather than any quality associated with it.
Where Arsène comes from
Arsène is the French form of the Greek Arsenios, from arsen, male. Its saint is Arsenius the Great, a fourth-century Roman tutor to the sons of the emperor Theodosius who abandoned the court for the Egyptian desert and became one of the Desert Fathers; his advice to flee, be silent and pray is among the most quoted lines of early monasticism. The name's French standing is owed almost entirely to fiction: Maurice Leblanc created Arsène Lupin in 1905 as a gentleman burglar and a deliberate French answer to Sherlock Holmes, and the character has never been out of print or off the screen since. Arsenic is unrelated despite the resemblance — that comes through Greek from a Persian word for yellow orpiment, though Greek speakers did associate it with arsen by folk etymology.
Arsène in use
Arsène ranks 161st in France with about 375 births in 2025 and is rising in our data with a peak in 2019. Our records carry it from 1900. It is very rare elsewhere at 9,448th in the United States and absent from the British tables, despite Arsène Wenger having managed Arsenal for twenty-two years — a good demonstration that fame does not by itself move a name.
How popular is Arsène?
In 2025, Arsène was given to 370 babies in France, ranking #161 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Arsène is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Arsène is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Arsene | Arsene is a spelling of Arsène, used in the United States, where it ranks #9,448. | 15,183 |
| Arséne | Arséne is a rare spelling of Arsène, written with an acute accent and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Arsène
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Arsène also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Arsène over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Arsène in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Arsène
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Arsène — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Arsène
What does the name Arsène mean?
Arsène means "male" or "virile," from the Greek arsen.
Who is Arsène Lupin?
A gentleman thief created by Maurice Leblanc in 1905 as a French answer to Sherlock Holmes.
Is arsenic related?
Not in origin — it comes through Greek from a Persian word for orpiment, though Greek speakers linked the two by folk etymology.
How popular is Arsène?
161st in France, where it is rising.
Is Arsène a girl's or a boy's name?
Arsène is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
Is Arsène a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Arsène currently ranks #161 in France. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.