Arla
Arla was given to 26 girls in 2025, #4,997 among girls’ names; 2,806 Americans have been recorded with it since 1888 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,340 Americans named Arla and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 48 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Arla by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Arla mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Arla is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Arla?
#4,997 among girls’ names, 2025
Arla rose from #10,988 in 2015 to #4,997 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 5.0 to 16.2 per million.
66 babies in 1930, the peak
Arla peaked in 1930, when 66 babies were given it (60 girls, #942 among girls’ names). The 26 births of 2025 are 39% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26 | #4,997 | 16.2 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,168 | 15.4 |
| 2023 | 20 | #5,983 | 12.5 |
| 2022 | 21 | #5,805 | 12.8 |
| 2021 | 27 | #4,850 | 16.5 |
| 2020 | 26 | #4,894 | 16.1 |
| 2019 | 15 | #7,391 | 8.9 |
| 2018 | 21 | #5,802 | 12.3 |
| 2017 | 15 | #7,495 | 8.7 |
| 2016 | 7 | #13,047 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (110)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 9 | #10,988 | 5.0 |
| 2014 | 6 | #14,784 | 3.4 |
| 2013 | 5 | #16,839 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 6 | #15,166 | 3.4 |
| 2011 | 6 | #15,033 | 3.4 |
| 2008 | 5 | #17,830 | 2.6 |
| 2005 | 5 | #16,760 | 2.7 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,021 | 5.3 |
| 1989 | 5 | #12,518 | 2.7 |
| 1988 | 5 | #11,946 | 2.8 |
| 1987 | 5 | #11,439 | 2.9 |
| 1986 | 5 | #11,022 | 2.9 |
| 1985 | 9 | #6,991 | 5.2 |
| 1983 | 13 | #5,167 | 7.8 |
| 1982 | 8 | #7,517 | 4.7 |
| 1981 | 9 | #6,836 | 5.4 |
| 1980 | 16 | #4,530 | 9.6 |
| 1979 | 7 | #8,102 | 4.4 |
| 1978 | 9 | #6,420 | 5.9 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,233 | 7.8 |
| 1976 | 8 | #6,656 | 5.5 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,877 | 8.2 |
| 1974 | 5 | #8,857 | 3.4 |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,375 | 8.9 |
| 1972 | 10 | #5,129 | 6.6 |
| 1971 | 15 | #3,955 | 9.0 |
| 1970 | 20 | #3,216 | 11.4 |
| 1969 | 14 | #3,787 | 8.3 |
| 1968 | 22 | #2,713 | 13.4 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,214 | 9.7 |
| 1966 | 28 | #2,252 | 16.5 |
| 1965 | 22 | #2,604 | 12.5 |
| 1964 | 27 | #2,350 | 14.2 |
| 1963 | 34 | #2,019 | 17.6 |
| 1962 | 28 | #2,266 | 14.2 |
| 1961 | 16 | #3,197 | 7.9 |
| 1960 | 35 | #1,924 | 17.3 |
| 1959 | 37 | #1,820 | 18.3 |
| 1958 | 27 | #2,166 | 13.4 |
| 1957 | 30 | #1,991 | 14.7 |
| 1956 | 36 | #1,760 | 17.9 |
| 1955 | 45 | #1,516 | 23.0 |
| 1954 | 32 | #1,837 | 16.5 |
| 1953 | 46 | #1,440 | 24.5 |
| 1952 | 40 | #1,522 | 21.6 |
| 1951 | 60 | #1,202 | 33.3 |
| 1950 | 44 | #1,374 | 25.7 |
| 1949 | 37 | #1,511 | 21.6 |
| 1948 | 56 | #1,208 | 33.0 |
| 1947 | 40 | #1,487 | 22.6 |
| 1946 | 48 | #1,239 | 30.5 |
| 1945 | 38 | #1,292 | 29.1 |
| 1944 | 32 | #1,433 | 24.1 |
| 1943 | 58 | #1,048 | 41.6 |
| 1942 | 43 | #1,207 | 31.8 |
| 1941 | 62 | #936 | 51.3 |
| 1940 | 51 | #998 | 44.6 |
| 1939 | 53 | #975 | 48.3 |
| 1938 | 48 | #1,032 | 43.5 |
| 1937 | 54 | #940 | 50.8 |
| 1936 | 56 | #909 | 53.8 |
| 1935 | 56 | #926 | 53.4 |
| 1934 | 64 | #855 | 61.3 |
| 1933 | 54 | #923 | 53.6 |
| 1932 | 56 | #941 | 52.5 |
| 1931 | 46 | #1,029 | 43.2 |
| 1930 | 60 | #942 | 53.3 |
| 1929 | 43 | #1,119 | 38.5 |
| 1928 | 49 | #1,071 | 42.5 |
| 1927 | 50 | #1,083 | 41.9 |
| 1926 | 48 | #1,081 | 40.5 |
| 1925 | 40 | #1,226 | 32.9 |
| 1924 | 40 | #1,260 | 32.0 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,466 | 25.7 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,508 | 25.0 |
| 1921 | 44 | #1,148 | 35.7 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,670 | 20.9 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,395 | 27.4 |
| 1918 | 33 | #1,334 | 28.5 |
| 1917 | 33 | #1,264 | 30.5 |
| 1916 | 30 | #1,334 | 28.7 |
| 1915 | 31 | #1,259 | 31.5 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,667 | 21.0 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,555 | 11.2 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,991 | 16.1 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,458 | 26.3 |
| 1910 | 9 | #1,643 | 22.7 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,126 | 15.0 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,843 | 18.8 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,745 | 20.3 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,500 | 25.4 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,611 | 22.9 |
| 1901 | 11 | #1,012 | 46.0 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,950 | 16.7 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,618 | 21.5 |
| 1898 | 10 | #1,104 | 38.6 |
| 1897 | 8 | #1,174 | 34.2 |
| 1891 | 7 | #1,101 | 37.7 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,220 | 31.5 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,293 | 28.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Arla a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Arla has been given almost only to girls: 17 boys in 110 years of records.
Girls and boys named Arla: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Arla, and how old are they?
1,340 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 48% of the 2,806 Americans ever recorded as Arla. The median Arla alive today is 67 years old; half are between 48 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 2,039 people named Arla (2,017 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,452 born in the U.S. The Census count is 40% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 265 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 546 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 211 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 67 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 22 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 222 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 28,002 babies since 1880, Arla is the fourth most given (10% of them). In 2025 it was given to 26 of their 731 babies (3.6%), the fifth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Arla
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Arla and names like it
- Compare Arla and ArelyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sArla peaked in 1930.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Arla since 1910.
- The top names of 1930The year the most babies were named Arla.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Arla alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.