Head to head · Girls' names
Arlet vs Aya
#642 vs #644 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Arlet is a whisker ahead (#642 vs #644 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Arlet leads 5 measures of 6; Aya leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Arlet #4271, Aya — — Arlet higher
- 1920s: Arlet #4251, Aya — — Arlet higher
- 1960s: Arlet #6804, Aya — — Arlet higher
- 1970s: Arlet —, Aya #6269 — Aya higher
- 1980s: Arlet #9368, Aya #4422 — Aya higher
- 1990s: Arlet #8206, Aya #2424 — Aya higher
- 2000s: Arlet #3827, Aya #1268 — Aya higher
- 2010s: Arlet #3080, Aya #921 — Aya higher
- 2020s: Arlet #946, Aya #718 — Aya higher
Aya stood higher in 6 of 9 decades; Aya has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Arlet | Aya |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4271 | — |
| 1920s | #4251 | — |
| 1960s | #6804 | — |
| 1970s | — | #6269 |
| 1980s | #9368 | #4422 |
| 1990s | #8206 | #2424 |
| 2000s | #3827 | #1268 |
| 2010s | #3080 | #921 |
| 2020s | #946 | #718 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Arlet
Not charting outside the US.
Aya
- France#49
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Arlet
Most often traced to Germanic name elements through French Arlette; no single translation is agreed
The main reading takes Arlet as a form of French Arlette, itself a diminutive of the medieval Norman name Herleva, built from Old Germanic elements usually read as 'nobleman' or 'army'. A competing view treats the -et(te) ending as the ordinary French diminutive suffix attached to a shortened Charl-/Carl- name, which would make it a cousin of Charlotte and Carlota rather than a descendant of Herleva.
Herleva → Arlette → Arlet
How it traveled
The older half of the story is Norman: Herleva, a name recorded in eleventh-century Normandy, softened over the centuries into the French Arlette. Arlette stayed in steady French use into the twentieth century and traveled outward from there, giving Italian Arletta, Portuguese Arlete and the Spanish spellings Arlet and Arleth, which drop the French double consonant and final -e.
Aya
'Color' or 'woven design' in Japanese, 'sign, verse' in Arabic, a bird of prey in Hebrew
These are not rival guesses about one name — they are three genuine names that happen to share a spelling in the Latin alphabet. Japanese Aya is usually written 彩 'color' or 綾 'figured silk, twill'. Arabic آية (āyah) means 'sign, mark, miracle', and is the word for a single verse of the Quran. Hebrew איה (ayah) names a kite or falcon. Which one applies depends on the family, not on the letters.
How it traveled
Each road is old and each is separate. In Arabic, āyah is a Quranic word — the term for one verse of the text — and it became a girls' name across the Arabic-speaking world.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Arlet
ar-LET
Spanish and Catalan speakers stress the second syllable: ar-LET. English speakers often move the stress forward to AR-let, which is the same pattern that turns Michelle into MISH-elle in casual American speech. Both are in real use, and families usually settle on one early.
- Ari — The most portable short form, shared with Ariana, Arielle and Ariadne; used informally and occasionally registered on its own.
- Leti — Informal, drawn from the second syllable; overlaps with the short form of Leticia in Spanish-speaking families.
- Arli — Informal household spelling, also written Arly.
- Lettie — The English-facing option, an old short form for Arlette, Violet and Letitia alike.
Aya
AH-yah
Two open syllables, stress on the first. Arabic speakers give the final sound a light breath; Japanese keeps both syllables even, with no stress at all. The English slip to hear for is AY-ah, with the vowel of 'day'.
- Aya — Already two syllables, so it is normally used whole, in formal and informal settings alike; it is a full given name, not a short form of anything.
- Aya-chan — Japanese affectionate suffix used by family and friends, informal only, and not a standalone name.
- Ayaka / Ayako — Longer Japanese names that Aya serves as the everyday short form of, rather than the other way round.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Arlet if you want…
- a name on the way upup 1,103 places on the charts in five years
Choose Aya if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooAya is on the national lists of France
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Arlet
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in both English and Spanish — no silent letters, no double consonants to remember.
- Part of a documented international family: Arlette, Arleth, Arlete, Arletta, so relatives abroad will recognize it.
- Short enough to survive a form field, with Ari and Leti available as ready-made short forms.
To consider
- The stress is genuinely unsettled between ar-LET and AR-let. Teachers and receptionists will guess, and she will correct them for life — a small, permanent chore rather than a real problem.
- Arleth, Arlett and Arlette all exist alongside it, so expect to spell it out and to receive mail with an extra letter on the end.
- Said quickly in English, it can be heard as Scarlett minus the S, or as Arlene by ears expecting the older name.
Aya
Strengths
- Three letters, no silent ones, and a spelling that follows the sound — easy to write down the first time it is heard.
- Belongs fully to Arabic, Japanese and Hebrew naming at once, so it needs no adjustment moving between those families and English.
- Also in current use in France, which makes it portable across at least two European languages.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations compete in English: AH-yah and AY-ah. Both are heard, so expect to correct people, or to decide you don't mind either.
- It sits in a crowded sound-neighborhood with Ava, Ayla, Maya and Aria, and gets misheard as one of them over the phone or in a noisy room.
- Ayah and Aaya are equally established transliterations, so 'which spelling?' will be a routine question rather than a rare one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Arlet and Aya in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Arlet and Aya?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Arlet and Aya — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Arlet or Aya — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Arlet or Aya?
- Arlet, in 2025: Arlet ranked #642 with 450 babies; Aya ranked #644 with 449 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Arlet or Aya?
- Arlet. Over the last five years Arlet moved up 1,103 places; Aya moved up 145 places.
- Which is the older name, Arlet or Aya?
- Arlet entered the US charts in 1918; Aya entered the US charts in 1972. On the American record, Arlet is the older name.
- How many people are named Arlet and Aya?
- About 3,300 people named Arlet are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 7,900 people named Aya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Arlets or Ayas in the classroom?
- Arlet will almost certainly be the only one in school. Aya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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