Humanverse

Arline vs Arlynn

American parents have registered 17,626 Arlines since 1880, against 661 Arlynns. But in 2025 it was Arlynn that was commoner, 14 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Arline against Arlynn, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Arline Arlynn

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 141 years in which either name was published, Arline for 121 years and Arlynn for 20 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Arline Arlynn
Total US births 17,626661
Most in one year 67725
Babies in 2025 under 514
Estimated living today 3,800560
Median age today 7917
Peak year 19242018
Best rank 253rd girls5,152nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked7,491st
First recorded 18831917
Girls / boys 17,590 / 36600 / 61

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 Arlines alive today are over 79; half the Arlynns are over 17. That is 62 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: Arline and Arlynn.