Arletha vs Arlo
American parents have registered 25,135 Arlos since 1880, against 1,640 Arlethas. Arlo is still ahead, with 2,514 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Arletha Arlo
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 123 years in which either name was published, Arlo for 106 years and Arletha for 17 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.
Side by side
| Arletha | Arlo | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,640 | 25,135 |
| Most in one year | 40 | 2,574 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 2,514 |
| Estimated living today | 910 | 23,000 |
| Median age today | 64 | 4 |
| Peak year | 1963 | 2024 |
| Best rank | 1,839th girls | 146th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 148th |
| First recorded | 1900 | 1899 |
| Girls / boys | 1,640 / 0 | 890 / 24,245 |
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 Arlethas alive today are over 64; half the Arlos are over 4. That is 60 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Arletha North Carolina (20.1×), Mississippi (12.8×), Illinois (2.0×)
- Arlo Oregon (2.9×), Colorado (2.8×), Minnesota (2.8×)
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: Arletha and Arlo.