Humanverse

Arriel vs Arrow

American parents have registered 2,575 Arrows since 1880, against 324 Arriels. Arrow is still ahead, with 113 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Arriel Arrow

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 46 years in which either name was published, Arrow for 24 years and Arriel for 22 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Arriel Arrow
Total US births 3242,575
Most in one year 24283
Babies in 2025 under 5113
Estimated living today 3202,600
Median age today 296
Peak year 19912018
Best rank 4,208th girls1,122nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,976th
First recorded 19821971
Girls / boys 324 / 0858 / 1,717

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 Arriels alive today are over 29; half the Arrows are over 6. That is 23 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: Arriel and Arrow.