Arliss
Masculine
Arliss is given to both — 728 boys and 801 girls since 1880. See Arliss as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Arliss is an English surname that became an American first name, recorded for boys and girls alike. Its best-known bearer was a stage actor who came late to film, played statesmen and financiers, and collected the first Academy Award ever given to a British performer.
How old is the name Arliss?
Arliss first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Arliss alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 400 people named Arliss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arliss most popular?
Arliss peaked in 1933, reaching #1361 nationally. Today it ranks #4396, 3,035 places below that high. See the whole 1933 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Arliss
George Arliss spent thirty years on the London and New York stage before sound arrived in the cinema, and then, well past sixty, became a film star. He specialized in great men: prime ministers, bankers, cardinals, played with a monocle and an air of knowing something the audience did not. When he won the Academy Award for playing Disraeli he became the first British actor to take one, and he did it in a career that most people would have considered finished before it started. Whether any American family naming a child Arliss had him in mind, the record does not say. What it shows is a surname in use as a first name for boys and for girls, which surnames used this way very often are.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The surname's own origin has not been settled. It has been linked to English place names and to worn-down personal names, and neither case has been made convincingly. The American first name may come from the surname or may have been assembled from the sounds.
Pronouncing Arliss
AR-liss
Two syllables with the stress in front and a crisp s at the end. Nobody has trouble with it on sight.
Nicknames for Arliss
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 193025 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1361reached in 1933
- Change vs 2024
- +9.5%23 in 2025, from 21
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.
Arlisss among us
people named Arliss are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 74,264 born in 2025 was named Arliss
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 Tadeusz test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Arliss's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tadeusz climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tadeusz's path sketches the road Arliss is walking now.
Arliss 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
Arliss beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Arliss in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is read correctly at first sight and never needs spelling out loud.
- Arlie is available as a short form and works for a child of either sex.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it leaves a question open rather than closing it.
- It reads as a surname to nearly everyone, which suits some families and unsettles others.
- This spelling goes mostly to boys but is recorded for girls too, so forms will occasionally guess wrong.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Arliss
Masculine · #4396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Arlisss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Arliss are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arliss in 2025?
- Arliss ranks #4396 among US boy names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Arliss?
- About 1 in every 74,264 US boys born in 2025 was named Arliss — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Arliss with classmates?
- Arliss will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Arliss
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odell#4396 · Corwin#4396 · Tennyson#4396 · Marques#4396 · Manu#4396 · Omid#4396 · Zackariah#4396 · Burton#4396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arliss? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Arliss and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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