Augustus
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The story
A bronze head of Augustus ended up beneath a temple's steps. It had belonged to a statue taken by Kushite forces during a raid into Roman Egypt and was later found at Meroë, in what is now Sudan. The British Museum interprets the burial as probably deliberate: the emperor's image would remain symbolically beneath his captors' feet. That is a striking reversal for Augustus, an honorific meaning exalted or venerable, bestowed on the first Roman emperor, formerly Octavian. The surviving head holds both the imperial image and evidence of the people who challenged it. As a personal name, Augustus also has a more familiar scale available in Gus, a short form it shares with Angus. Its history can therefore lead from a grand title to an unexpectedly placed portrait, then back to something as ordinary as calling someone Gus.
Augustus across languages
One shared root links 7 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Latin augustus "exalted, venerable", the imperial title behind Augustus, Augustine, and their kin
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Augustus around the world?
In the United States, 4,094 babies were named Augustus between 2020 and 2025.
Augustus is on the official records of the United States, Canada, South Australia, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 5,300
In the United States, 4,094 babies were named Augustus between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Augustus peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records Augustus has stayed between 509 and 5,102 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 7,800
In Canada, 47 boys named Augustus were born in 2024, the 585th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Augustus in 2017.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 23,000
In England and Wales, 26 boys named Augustus were born in 2025, ranked 1,124th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Brazil
1 in 1M
At the 2022 census, 255 people in Brazil were named Augustus, ranked 21,390th, with a median age of 13.
Among people named Augustus living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 55 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Austria
last on record 2022
Augustus is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Scotland
last on record 2023
Augustus is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Augustus
Most people given the name Augustus in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Augustus · Nicknames for Augustus · Familiar but never popular
The Augustus deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Augustus truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Augustus fits with your family’s names and surname.
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