A male name. the etymology of this name has been the subject of much speculation: it has been variously derived from Celtic artos ‘a bear', Irish art ‘a stone’, and other Celtic words. It is more probably of Latin origin. There seems to have been a Roman gens named Artorius; Tacitus mentions an Artoria Flacilla and Juvenal an Artorius (some MSS have Arctorius or Arcturius). There are other examples of Latin names naturalized and surviving in Wales (e.g. Cat or Kai, Arthur’s seneschal = Caius' Emrys = Ambrosius), and it is significant that Gildas says that the leader of the Britons against the Saxons was a man of Roman race, Ambrosius Aurelianus. The earliest recorded example of the name Arthur occurs (as Arturius) in Adamnan’s life of St Columba, where it is the name of an Irish prince killed in 596; the earliest mention of King Artur is in Nennius (fl. 796). Artor and Artur are the names of tenants in Domesday Book. In the 13th C and thereafter it is usually Artur, Arturus until the 16th C when Arthur, Arther, Artheur, &c., are usual, though Arter is found as late as 1630, and the vulgar abbreviation Arty, which is still sometimes heard, may represent a survival of this. Never very common (until the 19th C), Arthur is most often found in the Middle Ages in counties bordering on Celtic districts, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Somerset, for example. It may be noted that the two early examples of its use for royal persons are also the result of Celtic connexions; Arthur Duke of Brittany, the unfortunate nephew of King John, was a Breton on his mother’s side, and Arthur Tudor, elder s. of Henry VII, was a Welshman. The name first appears in Scotland in the 13th C in the Galbraith family, whence it was carried by marriage to the Hamiltons. In the 19th C Arthur became very popular, chiefly, at first, on account of its being the name of the Duke of Wellington (he was named after his maternal grandfather, Arthur Hill, Viscount Duncannon, whose family had used the name since the 17 th C). Apart from his general influence, Wellington had a number of godsons named after him, among them the Duke of Connaught, youngest s. of Queen Victoria. Tennyson also, no doubt, had something to do with the revival of the name, both by his In Memoriam (commemorating his friend Arthur Hallam) and by his Idylls of the King. It is sometimes abbreviated to Arty (e.g. in The Newcomes 1854, Kipps 1905).

Artur, Arturus Domesday Book 1086. Artor Domesday Book 1086. Azer, Azor, Azorius, Azur Domesday Book 1086. Arthurus Curia Regis Rolls 1189 1213, Hundred Rolls 1273. Artur, Acur, Azur Curia Regis Rolls 1189-1213.