Arletta
Feminine · “Germanic”
The story that the word harlot comes from William the Conqueror's mother is a good story and it is false. Harlot is Old French for a vagabond, it was applied to men for two centuries before it was applied to women, and Arlette had nothing to do with it.
How old is the name Arletta?
Arletta first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Arletta alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 1,000 people named Arletta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arletta most popular?
Arletta peaked in 1933, reaching #915 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,192 places below that high. See the whole 1933 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Herleva to Arletta
The story of Arletta
Herleva was a tanner's daughter of Falaise and the mother of the man who conquered England in 1066, and because his enemies called him the Bastard her name is recorded in several forms by chroniclers who had reasons to be careless with it: Herleva, Herleve, Arlette, Arlotta. Later writers noticed the resemblance between Arlotta and harlot and produced the obvious explanation, which has been repeated ever since. The word actually comes from Old French herlot or arlot, meaning a vagabond or a rogue, and Chaucer uses it of men; the sense narrowed to women only in the fifteenth century. It is a clean example of how a memorable etymology outlives a correct one, and how a woman's name can be damaged by a coincidence of sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
Germanic, from her, army
Arletta is a form of Arlette, itself connected to the Norman Herleva, the mother of William the Conqueror, generally taken as a Germanic name built on her, an army. The forms Herleva, Arlette and Arlotta all appear in the sources for one woman. The derivation of the English word harlot from her name is a folk etymology and is not supported. The American peak is 1933.
How the name formed
- Herleva
- Arlette
- Arletta
Related forms: Arlette · Arlotta · Arletha
Pronouncing Arletta
ar-LET-uh
Three syllables, stress on the second. The French Arlette has two, with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Arletta
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 193355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #915reached in 1933
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Arletta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arlette in French — same name
- Arlotta in Italian — related form
- Arletha in English — spelling variant
Arlettas among us
people named Arletta are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Arletta
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 Aleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arletta's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aleen climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aleen's path sketches the road Arletta is walking now.
Arletta 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
Arletta beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arletta in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Etta and Lettie are both established short forms.
- It has a documented eleventh-century bearer.
- Three syllables with a clear central stress.
- The false connection with an English word still circulates.
- Arlette is the standard French spelling.
- The 1933 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Arletta
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arlettas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Arletta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arletta in 2025?
- Arletta ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arletta?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Arletta — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arletta with classmates?
- Arletta will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arletta
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arletta? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arletta and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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