Humanverse

Arlie vs Arlyne

American parents have registered 9,297 Arlies since 1880, against 1,469 Arlynes. Arlie is still ahead, with 77 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Arlie against Arlyne, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Arlie Arlyne

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

Arlie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1995, when Arlie had 7 and Arlyne had 6.

Side by side

  Arlie Arlyne
Total US births 9,2971,469
Most in one year 24967
Babies in 2025 77under 5
Estimated living today 3,100500
Median age today 5470
Peak year 19211921
Best rank 469th boys905th girls
Rank in 2025 5,608thunranked
First recorded 18801911
Girls / boys 2,585 / 6,7121,469 / 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 Arlynes alive today are over 70; half the Arlies are over 54. That is 16 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: Arlie and Arlyne.