girl's name
Arlene
ar-LEEN
- Origin American
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 145,610
Scotland
#679
2001 births
Arlene has no established origin at all — it appears in the nineteenth century with no traceable parent name, and the Irish pledge reading usually given for it belongs to a different name entirely.
- Arlene is a name of American origin.
- Peaked in 1934, when 3,930 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 26,106 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1888.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Arlene over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 14 |
| 1890s | 226 |
| 1900s | 846 |
| 1910s | 7,786 |
| 1920s | 22,017 |
| 1930s | 34,944 |
| 1940s | 29,175 |
| 1950s | 20,684 |
| 1960s | 11,259 |
| 1970s | 4,654 |
| 1980s | 3,683 |
| 1990s | 3,190 |
| 2000s | 2,615 |
| 2010s | 1,559 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 719 |
What Arlene means
Arlene has no securely known meaning. It appears without a documented source, and the pledge reading commonly given is borrowed from Charlene and Arline rather than earned.
Where Arlene comes from
Arlene is one of a set of nineteenth-century American female names that arrived without a traceable parent — Arline, Marlene and Charlene sit alongside it, and it is likely a respelling of Arline, which first appears in Balfe's 1843 opera The Bohemian Girl as an invented name. Various sources attach it to the Irish for a pledge, to Charles, or to the Germanic for an eagle, and none of these survives inspection. It is a reminder that a proportion of common names are simply made up, and that a confident etymology is not the same as a true one.
Arlene in use
Arlene peaked in the United States in 1934, when 3,930 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in three of the seven markets we track — 1633rd in the United States on 127 births, 3713th in Canada and 6868th in England and Wales — across 145,610 lifetime births. Its 1934 peak sits two years before Marlene's, and the two names rose together as part of the same fashion.
How popular is Arlene?
In 2025, Arlene was given to 127 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Arlene is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Arlene is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Arlène | Arlène is a rare spelling of Arlene, written with a grave accent and recorded about 50 times, mostly in France. | 50 |
Names that peaked alongside Arlene
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Arlene also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Arlene over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Arlene
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Arlene in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Arlene
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Arlene — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Arlene
What does the name Arlene mean?
Nothing established. It appears in nineteenth-century America without a traceable parent name.
Does Arlene mean pledge?
That reading is borrowed from other names and does not survive inspection.
Where does Arlene come from?
Most likely a respelling of Arline, an invented name from Balfe's 1843 opera The Bohemian Girl.
How popular is Arlene?
1633rd in the United States, down from a 1934 peak of 3,917 births.
Is Arlene a girl's or a boy's name?
Arlene is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Arlene?
Arlene has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Arlene?
Arlene is usually shortened to Arlie.
Is Arlene a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Arlene currently ranks #1,633 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.