Archie

What Archie means

Means “anti-aircraft artillery”

The sense “anti-aircraft artillery” is said to be from airmen dodging hostile fire and shouting “Archibald, certainly not”, the refrain of a then popular music hall song of the same name first performed by George Robey in 1911.

Source: Wiktionary, “Archie” (revision 93634646), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Archie?

US: Rising: up from #1245 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #19 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1890, when 221 boys got the name (#79 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,513 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 110 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 88 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ND (2.38 per 1,000 boys), NE (2.27 per 1,000 boys), SD (1.82 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Archie is #301 in the US and #11 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.6% of US babies named Archie were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Archie

Boys

• Warren#240“river, water”^*
• Conrad#417“bold, brave + counsel”^*
• Bo#449Swedish, from Old Norse Búi, meaning “dweller, long-time resident”^*
• Otis#652Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #71 vs #652 in 2025
• Hugh#732“heart, mind”^*
• Lewis#433Same root as Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*

For a sister

• Astrid#376Danish, from Old Norse Ástríðr, meaning “god + beautiful, originally…^*
• Amalia#566“vigor, bravery”^*
• Louisa#694Form of Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Ada#219“noble”^*
• Adaline#208Form of Adela, meaning “noble”^*
• Alice#65“noble + character”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Archie’s. Rank is US 2025.