Arlette
Feminine
Arlette is French to its bones: the -ette ending that also gave the world Colette, Juliette and Yvette, attached to a much older Germanic root. It says itself in two quick beats, ending on the stress, and it has been carried in French, Spanish and Portuguese alike. Familiar in shape, rarely heard in full.
How old is the name Arlette?
Arlette first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Arlette alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 7,400 people named Arlette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arlette most popular?
Arlette peaked in 2025, reaching #494 nationally. Today it ranks #494, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Arlette
Arlette grew up in French, built the way French built dozens of women's names: an old Germanic stem clipped short and softened with -ette. French and Norman tradition attached the name to Herleva, the woman of Falaise who was the mother of William the Conqueror, which gives the name a medieval anchor even though the form itself belongs to later French. It was in steady use in France through the twentieth century, and from there it traveled — into Portuguese as Arlete, into Spanish-speaking families as Arlette and Arlet. In the United States it has an unbroken record going back generations, and today it is most at home in Texas, California and New York, carried largely by families with Spanish-speaking roots.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The -ette part is not in doubt: it is the French diminutive suffix, the same one in Annette and Odette. The base is where scholars part ways — some read the Germanic element erl, 'nobleman', others hari, 'army'. Either way, the name reaches us as an affectionate small form of something older, and no single translation is agreed.
Pronouncing Arlette
ar-LET
Two syllables, stress on the second, final -e silent — as in Colette. Spanish-speaking families say it much the same way, with a lighter r. Occasionally heard as AR-let in English, with the stress pulled forward.
Nicknames for Arlette
High
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 2025600 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #494reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +56.7%600 in 2025, from 383
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.
Arlette in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arlette in French — same name
- Arlet in Spanish — spelling variant
- Arlete in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Arletta in Italian — related form
- Arleta in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Arlettes among us
people named Arlette are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,679 born in 2025 was named Arlette
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 Macey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arlette's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Macey climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Macey's path sketches the road Arlette is walking now.
Arlette 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Arlette is headed
Arlette looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 32% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Arlette beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arlette in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Fits a spelling pattern Americans already read correctly: Colette, Juliette, Yvette. Most people get it right on the first attempt.
- Works in French, Spanish and Portuguese with barely a change, which matters in a bilingual family.
- Has ready-made short forms at both ends — Arly at the front, Letty at the back — without needing to be invented.
- An unbroken American record going back generations, so it is neither newly coined nor tied to one moment of fashion.
- It sits very close to Arlene, Arletta and Arlet, and gets mixed up with all three. Expect to spell it out — one l, two t's — over the phone for life.
- Currently gaining ground. A child named Arlette now will likely meet more Arlettes as she grows up than the present figures suggest.
- The -ette suffix was at its most fashionable in an earlier era of French names, so to some ears Arlette reads retro rather than new. That cuts both ways: it is also why it sounds settled rather than made-up.
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What they receive
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Arlette
Feminine · #494 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arlettes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,400 people named Arlette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arlette in 2025?
- Arlette ranks #494 among US girl names in 2025, with 600 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arlette?
- About 1 in every 2,679 US girls born in 2025 was named Arlette — 600 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arlette with classmates?
- Arlette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arlette
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Solana#495 · Amanda#493 · Charli#496 · Maxine#496 · Kora#490 · Miracle#490 · Amirah#490 · Lakelynn#498
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arlette? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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