Humanverse

Arlene vs Arliz

American parents have registered 143,371 Arlenes since 1880, against 13 Arlizes. Arlene is still ahead, with 127 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Arlene against Arliz, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Arlene Arliz

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

Arlene has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1888 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2014, when Arlene had 150 and Arliz had 13.

Side by side

  Arlene Arliz
Total US births 143,37113
Most in one year 3,93013
Babies in 2025 127under 5
Estimated living today 68,00013
Median age today 7111
Peak year 19342014
Best rank 53rd girls8,485th girls
Rank in 2025 1,631stunranked
First recorded 18882014
Girls / boys 143,010 / 36113 / 0

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 Arlenes alive today are over 71; half the Arlizes are over 11. That is 60 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: Arlene and Arliz.