Variant of Artemis, from the Greek goddess of the hunt; may also mean 'safe and sound.'
Artemus is a Latinate masculine variant of Artemas, itself derived from Artemis — the Greek goddess of the hunt, the moon, and wild places. Artemis was one of the most widely worshipped deities of the ancient world, her great temple at Ephesus counted among the Seven Wonders. The name Artemas appears in the New Testament (Titus 3:12), where Paul mentions him as a trusted companion, giving the name early Christian footing and ensuring its survival into the medieval and early modern periods.
In American history, the name found its most memorable bearer in Artemus Ward — the pen name of Charles Farrar Browne, the Ohio-born humorist whose deliberately misspelled comic letters made him the most celebrated funny man in 1860s America. Abraham Lincoln read Artemus Ward aloud to his cabinet before unveiling the Emancipation Proclamation. Mark Twain credited Ward as a direct influence on his own voice.
There was also Artemas Ward the Revolutionary War general, who commanded American forces at the siege of Boston before Washington took over — a name thus associated with both wit and martial resolve. The spelling Artemus has a frontier, slightly eccentric American quality that distinguishes it from the more classically correct Artemas. It suggests a 19th-century newspaper office, a man with strong opinions and a wry mouth. It has never been a popular name in any decade's rankings, which gives it a stubborn individuality — the name of someone who doesn't particularly mind being the only one in the room with it.