Arlen
Arlen is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 99 births. Its best rank was 380th, in 1934.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 990.01% of boys
- Peak year
- 1934206 births
- Best rank
- #380in 1934
- Since 1909
- 8,023people given the name
The story in the numbers
7,237 boys have been named Arlen in the United States since 1909, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1934, with 206 births.
This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1954, and the 1930s alone account for 23%. It has spent 38 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 786 girls have also been given it, 9.8% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Arlen | |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 5 | |
| 1910s | 106 | |
| 1920s | 389 | |
| 1930s | 1,648 | |
| 1940s | 957 | |
| 1950s | 1,220 | |
| 1960s | 601 | |
| 1970s | 347 | |
| 1980s | 373 | |
| 1990s | 327 | |
| 2000s | 318 | |
| 2010s | 512 | |
| 2020s | 434 |
In 1934, its biggest year
Arlen was the 380th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1934 were Robert, James, John, William and Richard. See all of 1934.
Names that rose and fell with Arlen
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Arlanpeak 1936
- Buddypeak 1935
- Bobbypeak 1937
- Billypeak 1934
- Duainepeak 1932
- Jerrepeak 1942
- Delanopeak 1933
- Donpeak 1946
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.