Arlana vs Arlen
American parents have registered 8,154 Arlens since 1880, against 537 Arlanas. Arlen is still ahead, with 129 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Arlana Arlen
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Arlen has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1909 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1973, when Arlana had 13 and Arlen had 23.
Side by side
| Arlana | Arlen | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 537 | 8,154 |
| Most in one year | 17 | 215 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 129 |
| Estimated living today | 490 | 5,000 |
| Median age today | 47 | 41 |
| Peak year | 1949 | 1934 |
| Best rank | 2,410th girls | 380th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,585th |
| First recorded | 1946 | 1909 |
| Girls / boys | 537 / 0 | 809 / 7,345 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Arlanas alive today are over 47; half the Arlens are over 41. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Arlana and Arlen.