Head to head · Boys' names
Arlo vs Elian
#148 vs #147 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Elian is a whisker ahead (#147 vs #148 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
The tape is even: Arlo and Elian each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1890s: Arlo #1051, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1900s: Arlo #1106, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1910s: Arlo #883, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1920s: Arlo #777, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1930s: Arlo #739, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1940s: Arlo #1074, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1950s: Arlo #1464, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1960s: Arlo #2389, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1970s: Arlo #1515, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1980s: Arlo #2218, Elian — — Arlo higher
- 1990s: Arlo #3330, Elian #6196 — Arlo higher
- 2000s: Arlo #2070, Elian #812 — Elian higher
- 2010s: Arlo #571, Elian #669 — Arlo higher
- 2020s: Arlo #172, Elian #273 — Arlo higher
Arlo stood higher in 13 of 14 decades; Arlo has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Arlo | Elian |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1051 | — |
| 1900s | #1106 | — |
| 1910s | #883 | — |
| 1920s | #777 | — |
| 1930s | #739 | — |
| 1940s | #1074 | — |
| 1950s | #1464 | — |
| 1960s | #2389 | — |
| 1970s | #1515 | — |
| 1980s | #2218 | — |
| 1990s | #3330 | #6196 |
| 2000s | #2070 | #812 |
| 2010s | #571 | #669 |
| 2020s | #172 | #273 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Arlo
- England & Wales#15
- Scotland#24
- Canada#88
Elian
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Arlo
Not established
No meaning has been established for Arlo. What is documented is the sound's history: Spenser's invented place-name Arlo Hill, drawn from the Irish Aherlow; its long use as an English and American surname; and the Spanish word arlo, a name for the barberry shrub, which is sometimes attached to the name without any evidence connecting the two. Parents who want a firm translation will not find one here.
How it traveled
The earliest clear appearance is literary: Spenser's Arlo Hill in the Mutabilitie Cantos, a poetic reshaping of Aherlow in County Tipperary. From there Arlo surfaces as a surname and then, in nineteenth-century America, as a given name in modest but steady use — never fashionable, never absent.
Elian
Either 'God has answered' or 'belonging to Aelius' — two separate lines lead to the same spelling
The Hebrew reading takes Elian from el ('God') with a form of the verb ana, 'to answer' — the name Eliyan is used in Israel on this understanding. The Romance reading traces it to Latin Aelianus, from the old Roman family name Aelius, whose own origin was already uncertain in antiquity; a link to Greek helios, 'sun', is often proposed and has never been proven. Separately, some Spanish-speaking families have built the name fresh from the parents' two names, which is how the best-known Cuban bearer received it.
Aelius → Aelianus → Eliano → Elián → Elian
How it traveled
Aelius was one of the Roman clan names, and its adjective form Aelianus passed into the Romance languages as Eliano in Italian, Élian in French, Elián in Spanish. A quite separate Elian belonged to a Welsh saint commemorated at Llaneilian on Anglesey, and a third, Eliyan, grew from Hebrew roots.
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
Arlo
AR-loh
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with Carlo. British and Irish speakers soften the r; the vowels themselves are the same everywhere.
- Lo — Informal clipping used within families; too short to work as a full given name.
- Arlie — An older American given name in its own right, still used occasionally as an affectionate extension of Arlo.
- Ar — Playground-level shortening, used in speech rather than writing.
Elian
EE-lee-un
English speakers usually stress the first syllable: EE-lee-un. In Spanish the accent falls on the last, eh-lee-AHN, and the written accent in Elián marks exactly that. Both are correct for their language, so it is worth deciding early which one your family will use and which spelling goes on the birth certificate.
- Eli — The usual English short form, and a fully established given name on its own, so it needs no explaining on a roster or a name tag.
- Lian — Takes the second half instead of the first; also stands alone as a given name in Hebrew and in Chinese romanisation.
- Ely — A less common spelling of the short form, used informally within families rather than on documents.
- Eliancito — The Spanish diminutive, used affectionately by close family and rarely outside the home.
Who has carried each name
Arlo
Arlo Guthrie (b. 1947) — "Alice's Restaurant" folk singer, Woody Guthrie's son
Elian
No documented entry for Elian yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Arlo if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesArlo is 2 syllables to Elian's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooArlo is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland and Canada
Choose Elian if you want…
- a name on the way upup 208 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itElian runs 3 syllables, Arlo 2
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
Arlo
Strengths
- Four letters, two syllables, spelled exactly as it sounds — rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- Already short, so it works as a full name and a casual name at once, without depending on a nickname.
- Charts in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada as well as the US, so it travels through English-speaking countries without explanation.
To consider
- The origin is genuinely unsettled, and the tidy "barberry tree" gloss you will find on many sites is not supported. If a documented meaning matters to you, this name will not supply one.
- It is rising quickly and from a broad base, so it is likely to feel considerably more common by the time a child born now finishes primary school than it does at the moment.
- It sits close to Harlow, Marlow and Arlow in sound, and Harlow is well established for girls — expect the occasional mishearing on the phone.
Elian
Strengths
- Eli is ready-made as a short form and already a standard given name in English, so the everyday version needs no introduction.
- Spelled close to the way it sounds in both English and Spanish, which keeps it workable in a bilingual household.
- Sits inside a familiar pattern — Julian, Damian, Kilian — so the rhythm reads as normal even where the name itself is new.
To consider
- The stress is genuinely split: Spanish puts it on the last syllable, English on the first. Expect to correct people in one direction or the other for life, and to decide whether the accent mark in Elián stays on official paperwork.
- It sits close to Elias, Eliana and Ellian, so it will be misheard and respelled fairly often — usually a one-second fix, but a frequent one.
- Adults who followed the news around the turn of the millennium may think first of Elián González, the Cuban boy at the center of an international custody case. Younger people generally have no such association at all.
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 Arlo and Elian 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 Arlo and Elian?
Put both to the vote.
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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
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- About to go mainstream: next year's top-100
- The sweet spot: familiar but not everywhere
- all guides
Every list here names both Arlo and Elian — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Arlo or Elian — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Arlo or Elian?
- Elian, in 2025: Elian ranked #147 with 2,448 babies; Arlo ranked #148 with 2,443 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Arlo or Elian?
- Elian. Over the last five years Arlo moved up 72 places; Elian moved up 208 places.
- Which is the older name, Arlo or Elian?
- Arlo entered the US charts in 1899; Elian entered the US charts in 1996. On the American record, Arlo is the older name.
- How many people are named Arlo and Elian?
- About 22,000 people named Arlo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 15,000 people named Elian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Arlos or Elians in the classroom?
- Arlo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Elian 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Arlo, Elian and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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