Arlin
Feminine
Arlin is given to both — 812 girls and 4,072 boys since 1880. See Arlin as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Arlin appeared in American records in the early twentieth century alongside Arline, Arlene, Arland and Arley, and none of them has a settled origin. That is unusual to say about a name that reached real numbers, but it is the truth: the whole cluster arrived by ear in about two decades and the name books have been supplying explanations after the fact ever since.
How old is the name Arlin?
Arlin first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Arlin alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 800 people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arlin most popular?
Arlin peaked in 2002, reaching #3241 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 9,967 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Arlin
The honest story is about a decade rather than an etymology. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, American parents were building names from a small set of pleasant syllables — Ar-, -lene, -lin, -land — and producing dozens of new ones that all sounded as though they had always existed. Arlene went to daughters and Arlin, mostly, to sons, and the two lived side by side without either being a version of the other. What makes the pair worth noticing is the split itself: the same sound, divided by two letters, sorted into two sexes by nothing more than a spelling convention that everyone understood and nobody had written down.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Nothing is established. The proposals include a connection to Arles in Provence, a Germanic root meaning oath or pledge, and an Irish origin, and none of them survives examination. What the record does show is that Arlene and Arline appeared for daughters at almost exactly the same moment, which suggests the whole set was built from sound rather than descended from anything.
Pronouncing Arlin
AR-lin
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Nothing about the spelling causes an English reader any difficulty.
Nicknames for Arlin
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 200243 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3241reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%6 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.
Arlin in other languages
Arlins among us
people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Arlin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Arlin
- #13208
- Arlin on the 2025 chart
- #904
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Arlin went to 6 girls in 2025, but Arlyn and Arlynn are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 56, which makes it the 904th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,304 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Arlin itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vianne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arlin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vianne climbed just as high around 1947, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vianne's path sketches the road Arlin is walking now.
Arlin 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
Arlin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arlin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, five letters, and phonetically transparent on first sight.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record shows it doing so.
- Arlie and Lin are both available and belong to different decades.
- It is old enough in American records to read as traditional rather than invented.
- Arlen, Arlyn and Arlin all appear, so the spelling has to be given.
- No origin can be honestly stated, and the meanings offered online are constructed.
- Most children given this spelling are boys, but a real minority are girls — and Arlene, its close relative, is firmly a woman's name, which colors how people read it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Arlin
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arlins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Arlin?
- Arlin is one of 3 recorded spellings. Arlyn is the more common one — 36 births in 2025 against 6 for Arlin.
- How popular is the name Arlin in 2025?
- Arlin ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arlin?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Arlin — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arlin with classmates?
- Arlin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arlin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arlin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arlin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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