Arlin
Masculine
Arlin is given to both — 4,072 boys and 812 girls since 1880. See Arlin as a girl 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 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Arlin alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 2,200 people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arlin most popular?
Arlin peaked in 1935, reaching #641 nationally. Today it ranks #2765, 2,124 places below that high. See the whole 1935 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
- 1910
- Most boys named
- 193884 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #641reached in 1935
- Change vs 2023
- +15.0%46 in 2025, from 40
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Arlins among us
people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 37,132 born in 2025 was named Arlin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Arlin
- #2765
- Arlin on the 2025 chart
- #866
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Arlin went to 46 boys in 2025, but Arlyn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 62, which makes it the 866th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,899 places above the chart.
- Arlin46
- Arlyn16
About 1 boy in 27,550 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 37,132 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 Estel 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: Estel climbed just as high around 1905, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Estel'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
Where Arlin is headed
Arlin looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 28% 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.
Arlin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arlin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys 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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What they receive
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Arlin
Masculine · #2765 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 2,200 people named Arlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Arlin?
- Arlin is the most-used spelling in US records — 46 of the 62 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Arlyn.
- How popular is the name Arlin in 2025?
- Arlin ranks #2765 among US boy names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arlin?
- About 1 in every 37,132 US boys born in 2025 was named Arlin — 46 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.
Asante#2765 · Yandel#2765 · Sheldon#2765 · Dwight#2765 · Mills#2765 · Jafet#2765 · Stephon#2765 · Shlok#2765
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arlin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arlin and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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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