Explore the Family Name Arumugam

The meaning of Arumugam

Indian: from a Tamil personal name composed of Tamil āru ‘six’ + mugam ‘face’ (Sanskrit mukha), hence meaning ‘having six faces’. Arumugam is an epithet of the Tamil god Kartikeya, who is identical with Shanmuga (see Shanmugam). — Note: Since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames, this name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Arumugam in the United States?

The surname Arumugam has seen a significant increase in popularity according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, Arumugam was ranked 93,006 in terms of frequency, but by 2010 it had risen to 40,261 - a change of approximately 56.71%. The count of individuals with this surname also increased from 183 in 2000 to 544 in 2010, an impressive growth of 197.27%. The proportion of people named Arumugam per 100,000 also grew by 157.14% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#93,006	#40,261	56.71%
Count	183	544	197.27%
Proportion per 100k	0.07	0.18	157.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Arumugam

In terms of ethnicity, the majority of individuals with the surname Arumugam identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. This ethnic group accounted for 88.52% of those with this surname in 2000 and grew to 95.77% in 2010. However, the number of people identifying as two or more races declined significantly from 3.83% in 2000 to just 0.92% in 2010. Similarly, the proportion identifying as White decreased from 5.46% to 2.39% over the decade. No individuals with this surname identified as Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	88.52%	95.77%	8.19%
White	5.46%	2.39%	-56.23%
Two or More Races	3.83%	0.92%	-75.98%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%