Arlan
Masculine
Arlan may be the Irish for a pledge, a Germanic eagle-land, or a modern American formation — none of the three is settled.
How old is the name Arlan?
Arlan first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Arlan alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 2,100 people named Arlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arlan most popular?
Arlan peaked in 1936, reaching #625 nationally. Today it ranks #2390, 1,765 places below that high. See the whole 1936 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Arlan
Our story of Arlan is a story of three proposals and no proof. Irish has a word for a pledge that could underlie it. Germanic naming built freely on arn, the eagle, and land. And American families have made Arlan, Arlen and Arlin from the sound of Harlan since the nineteenth century. All three are plausible and none is documented. The honest position is that the name is real and its meaning is not recovered.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Unsettled. Proposals include the Irish Airleán, from a word for a pledge; a Germanic compound of arn, 'eagle', and land; and a modern coinage related to Harlan. None is established. The name is documented in use; its meaning is not.
Pronouncing Arlan
AR-lun
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.
Nicknames for Arlan
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 194066 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #625reached in 1936
- Change vs 2023
- +16.3%57 in 2025, from 49
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Arlan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arlen in English — spelling variant
- Arlin in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, California, Indiana.
Arlans among us
people named Arlan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 29,966 born in 2025 was named Arlan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Collins test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arlan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Collins climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Collins's path sketches the road Arlan is walking now.
Arlan sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Arlan is headed
Arlan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Arlan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arlan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The eagle-land reading is vivid where it holds.
- It has a genuine American record over more than a century.
- No single origin is established.
- At least three spellings of the sound are in circulation.
- It is period-coded to the mid-twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Arlan
Masculine · #2390 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arlans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Arlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arlan in 2025?
- Arlan ranks #2390 among US boy names in 2025, with 57 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arlan?
- About 1 in every 29,966 US boys born in 2025 was named Arlan — 57 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arlan with classmates?
- Arlan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arlan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Quest#2390 · Jovanny#2390 · Ameen#2390 · Devante#2390 · Austyn#2390 · Deklan#2390 · Erwin#2390 · Blaize#2390
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arlan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arlan and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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