Head to head · Boys' names
Arlo vs Greyson
#148 vs #149 in 2025
Arlo is a whisker ahead (#148 vs #149 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Arlo is climbing the charts fast, Greyson is stepping back from its peak.
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, Arlo leads 4 measures of 6; Greyson leads 2.
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, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1900s: Arlo #1106, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1910s: Arlo #883, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1920s: Arlo #777, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1930s: Arlo #739, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1940s: Arlo #1074, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1950s: Arlo #1464, Greyson — — Arlo higher
- 1960s: Arlo #2389, Greyson #3801 — Arlo higher
- 1970s: Arlo #1515, Greyson #4272 — Arlo higher
- 1980s: Arlo #2218, Greyson #3092 — Arlo higher
- 1990s: Arlo #3330, Greyson #1120 — Greyson higher
- 2000s: Arlo #2070, Greyson #562 — Greyson higher
- 2010s: Arlo #571, Greyson #135 — Greyson higher
- 2020s: Arlo #172, Greyson #109 — Greyson higher
Arlo stood higher in 10 of 14 decades; Greyson has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Arlo | Greyson |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1051 | — |
| 1900s | #1106 | — |
| 1910s | #883 | — |
| 1920s | #777 | — |
| 1930s | #739 | — |
| 1940s | #1074 | — |
| 1950s | #1464 | — |
| 1960s | #2389 | #3801 |
| 1970s | #1515 | #4272 |
| 1980s | #2218 | #3092 |
| 1990s | #3330 | #1120 |
| 2000s | #2070 | #562 |
| 2010s | #571 | #135 |
| 2020s | #172 | #109 |
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
Greyson
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.
Greyson
son of the steward, or son of Gray
The main reading traces the surname to Middle English greyve, a steward or bailiff who managed land for a lord — so 'son of the greyve'. A second reading takes it simply as 'son of Gray', from the older surname Gray. Both are serious; reference works differ on which came first, and in some families both roads may have ended at the same spelling.
greyve (Middle English: steward, bailiff) → Grayson (English surname) → Grayson (given name) → Greyson
How it traveled
The surname belongs to northern England, where greyve — a steward or overseer — was a working title long before it was anybody's name. Patronymic surnames of that kind (son of the greyve, son of Gray) settled into hereditary use in the late medieval period, and crossed the Atlantic with ordinary families rather than famous ones.
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.
Greyson
GRAY-sun
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical in sound to Grayson. The ey spelling never changes how it is said.
- Grey — The standard short form, and a given name in its own right for both boys and girls.
- Greys — Informal, mostly among friends and teammates.
- G — Casual initial-only nickname, common in American schools and sports.
Who has carried each name
Arlo
Arlo Guthrie (b. 1947) — "Alice's Restaurant" folk singer, Woody Guthrie's son
Greyson
Greyson Chance (b. 1997) — YouTube piano prodigy turned pop artist
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 on the way upup 72 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooArlo is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland and Canada
Choose Greyson if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsGreyson is stepping back from its peak
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.
Greyson
Strengths
- Pronounced correctly on sight by almost any English speaker — the ey spelling does not change the sound.
- Has a ready short form in Grey, which also works as a standalone name on adult documents.
- Sits inside a family of names Americans already know well — Grayson, Bryson, Mason — so it needs no explaining.
To consider
- Grayson with an a is the more common spelling in the US, so expect a lifetime of gentle correcting — on forms, in emails, at the coffee counter. Worth deciding now whether that trade is one you want.
- The name's wave is very recent, so it reads clearly as a name of the current generation of children rather than a family heirloom. That also means very few adult Greysons to point to.
- It sounds close to several popular classmates' names — Bryson, Mason, Jackson — and can blur in a noisy room even while remaining the only Greyson on the roster.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Arlo
53%chance Arlo feels dated by 2040
Arlo is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Greyson
70%chance Greyson feels dated by 2040
Greyson is coming down from a big peak (#77 in 2018). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Greyson 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 Greyson?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Arlo and Greyson — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Arlo or Greyson — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Arlo or Greyson?
- Arlo, in 2025: Arlo ranked #148 with 2,443 babies; Greyson ranked #149 with 2,439 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Arlo or Greyson?
- Arlo. Over the last five years Arlo moved up 72 places; Greyson moved down 68 places.
- Which is the older name, Arlo or Greyson?
- Arlo entered the US charts in 1899; Greyson entered the US charts in 1965. On the American record, Arlo is the older name.
- How many people are named Arlo and Greyson?
- About 22,000 people named Arlo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 59,500 people named Greyson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Arlos or Greysons in the classroom?
- Arlo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Greyson 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
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