How rare is the name Arlene?

85,381 people in the United States have the first name Arlene, about 1 in 3,537. It ranks #618 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ARLENE

#618

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
85,381
About
1 in 3,537
This common or more
62.3%
Who bears it

Of the 85,381 people named Arlene, 66.8% reported their origin as White, 15% as Hispanic or Latino and 9.3% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Arlene peaked in 1934, when 3,930 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18882025
Peak year
1934
Births that year
3,930
In 2025*
127 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 143,371 babies have been given the name since 1888. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Arlene by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1930s, when it ranked #128. The largest share of babies named Arlene, 40.8%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#2,50414
1890s#999226
1900s#568846
1910s#3177,786
1920s#21222,017
1930s#12834,944
1940s#20629,175
1950s#31920,684
1960s#48811,259
1970s#8094,654
1980s#9993,683
1990s#1,2673,190
2000s#1,6862,615
2010s#2,6101,559
2020s#3,146719
Before 19010.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2717.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4540.8%
Baby boom 1946–6426.7%
Generation X 1965–806.4%
Millennials 1981–963.9%
Generation Z 1997–122.9%
2013 and later1.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Arlene is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Arlene has been most common in North Dakota (3.2×), South Dakota (2.9×), and Maine (2.7×), and least common in Nevada (0.1×).

138,186 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Arlene

#616 Sierra · 85,582#617 Brendan · 85,406#619 Gerardo · 85,111#620 Layla · 84,915

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Arlene, most common first.

#3,541 Arlen · 5,836#3,795 Arline · 5,222#9,402 Arlena · 1,478#15,335 Arlyne · 752#24,063 Arleny · 403#24,676 Arleene · 389#35,138 Arlenne · 230#41,689 Arelene · 175

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