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Arleen vs Arliss

American parents have registered 12,617 Arleens since 1880, against 1,529 Arlisses. But in 2025 it was Arliss that was commoner, 23 babies to 19.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Arleen against Arliss, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Arleen Arliss

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

Of the 127 years in which either name was published, Arleen for 126 years and Arliss for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Arleen Arliss
Total US births 12,6171,529
Most in one year 41568
Babies in 2025 1923
Estimated living today 7,500640
Median age today 6567
Peak year 19391933
Best rank 303rd girls1,050th girls
Rank in 2025 6,116thunranked
First recorded 18981917
Girls / boys 12,611 / 6801 / 728

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 Arlisses alive today are over 67; half the Arleens are over 65. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Arleen and Arliss.