Arlan
Arlan was given to 57 boys in 2025, #2,392 among boys’ names; 3,434 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,940 Americans named Arlan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 54 years old and half are between 15 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Arlan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Arlan?
#2,392 among boys’ names, 2025
Arlan rose from #4,185 in 2015 to #2,392 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 12.5 to 33.4 per million.
87 babies in 1936, the peak
Arlan peaked in 1936, when 87 boys were given it, #625 among boys’ names. The 57 births of 2025 are 66% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | #2,392 | 33.4 |
| 2024 | 47 | #2,753 | 27.3 |
| 2023 | 49 | #2,660 | 28.6 |
| 2022 | 34 | #3,414 | 19.5 |
| 2021 | 40 | #3,022 | 22.9 |
| 2020 | 43 | #2,806 | 24.9 |
| 2019 | 34 | #3,349 | 18.9 |
| 2018 | 37 | #3,109 | 20.4 |
| 2017 | 29 | #3,678 | 15.7 |
| 2016 | 25 | #4,103 | 13.2 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24 | #4,185 | 12.5 |
| 2014 | 18 | #5,075 | 9.4 |
| 2013 | 21 | #4,473 | 11.1 |
| 2012 | 16 | #5,492 | 8.4 |
| 2011 | 22 | #4,368 | 11.6 |
| 2010 | 19 | #4,853 | 9.9 |
| 2009 | 16 | #5,573 | 8.1 |
| 2008 | 12 | #6,784 | 5.9 |
| 2007 | 16 | #5,448 | 7.7 |
| 2006 | 22 | #4,230 | 10.7 |
| 2005 | 15 | #5,298 | 7.5 |
| 2004 | 12 | #6,152 | 6.0 |
| 2003 | 11 | #6,285 | 5.6 |
| 2002 | 13 | #5,413 | 6.7 |
| 2001 | 7 | #8,392 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 10 | #6,342 | 5.1 |
| 1999 | 8 | #7,187 | 4.2 |
| 1998 | 12 | #5,169 | 6.3 |
| 1997 | 13 | #4,676 | 6.9 |
| 1996 | 7 | #7,180 | 3.7 |
| 1995 | 5 | #8,954 | 2.6 |
| 1994 | 10 | #5,475 | 5.2 |
| 1993 | 12 | #4,708 | 6.1 |
| 1992 | 11 | #4,883 | 5.5 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,240 | 6.4 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,179 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 11 | #4,535 | 5.5 |
| 1988 | 14 | #3,528 | 7.3 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,343 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 12 | #3,661 | 6.5 |
| 1985 | 9 | #4,347 | 4.9 |
| 1984 | 10 | #3,937 | 5.5 |
| 1983 | 10 | #3,896 | 5.6 |
| 1982 | 11 | #3,700 | 6.1 |
| 1981 | 16 | #2,785 | 8.9 |
| 1980 | 15 | #2,972 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,183 | 7.6 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,802 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,400 | 6.7 |
| 1976 | 11 | #3,273 | 7.0 |
| 1975 | 13 | #2,913 | 8.3 |
| 1974 | 22 | #1,990 | 14.0 |
| 1973 | 18 | #2,219 | 11.5 |
| 1972 | 20 | #2,021 | 12.3 |
| 1971 | 26 | #1,746 | 14.7 |
| 1970 | 20 | #1,989 | 10.8 |
| 1969 | 20 | #1,862 | 11.2 |
| 1968 | 20 | #1,790 | 11.5 |
| 1967 | 27 | #1,476 | 15.5 |
| 1966 | 26 | #1,512 | 14.6 |
| 1965 | 31 | #1,385 | 16.7 |
| 1964 | 34 | #1,351 | 17.1 |
| 1963 | 29 | #1,456 | 14.3 |
| 1962 | 34 | #1,343 | 16.4 |
| 1961 | 42 | #1,221 | 19.8 |
| 1960 | 46 | #1,152 | 21.6 |
| 1959 | 67 | #939 | 31.4 |
| 1958 | 53 | #1,048 | 25.0 |
| 1957 | 52 | #1,050 | 24.1 |
| 1956 | 47 | #1,107 | 22.2 |
| 1955 | 51 | #1,053 | 24.8 |
| 1954 | 55 | #1,007 | 27.0 |
| 1953 | 38 | #1,213 | 19.3 |
| 1952 | 54 | #968 | 27.8 |
| 1951 | 53 | #963 | 28.1 |
| 1950 | 47 | #1,021 | 26.3 |
| 1949 | 51 | #966 | 28.7 |
| 1948 | 66 | #837 | 37.6 |
| 1947 | 58 | #916 | 31.7 |
| 1946 | 55 | #890 | 33.9 |
| 1945 | 65 | #761 | 48.3 |
| 1944 | 59 | #814 | 43.3 |
| 1943 | 61 | #846 | 42.7 |
| 1942 | 56 | #876 | 40.5 |
| 1941 | 69 | #746 | 56.2 |
| 1940 | 66 | #758 | 56.9 |
| 1939 | 65 | #745 | 58.7 |
| 1938 | 69 | #736 | 62.2 |
| 1937 | 56 | #817 | 52.5 |
| 1936 | 87 | #625 | 83.9 |
| 1935 | 58 | #814 | 55.7 |
| 1934 | 65 | #763 | 62.9 |
| 1933 | 63 | #770 | 63.5 |
| 1932 | 40 | #1,058 | 38.3 |
| 1931 | 48 | #940 | 46.2 |
| 1930 | 53 | #915 | 48.3 |
| 1929 | 33 | #1,218 | 30.7 |
| 1928 | 28 | #1,383 | 25.3 |
| 1927 | 33 | #1,269 | 29.3 |
| 1926 | 21 | #1,664 | 18.9 |
| 1925 | 25 | #1,497 | 22.4 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,416 | 24.7 |
| 1923 | 23 | #1,594 | 21.0 |
| 1922 | 26 | #1,473 | 23.9 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,451 | 24.5 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,752 | 18.8 |
| 1919 | 13 | #2,270 | 13.3 |
| 1918 | 16 | #2,002 | 15.8 |
| 1917 | 9 | #2,740 | 9.7 |
| 1916 | 15 | #1,954 | 16.9 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,315 | 13.0 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,280 | 13.7 |
| 1913 | 9 | #1,953 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 8 | #1,896 | 18.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Arlan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Arlan has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 114 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Arlan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Arlan, and how old are they?
1,940 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 56% of the 3,434 Americans ever recorded as Arlan. The median Arlan alive today is 54 years old; half are between 15 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 2,107 people named Arlan (47 women and girls, 2,060 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,952 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 218 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 604 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 269 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 169 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 221 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 455 |
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).
Where are babies named Arlan born?
The states with the most babies named Arlan are Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Iowa, with 63% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota and Iowa are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 230 | #854 | 1.1× |
| Minnesota | 184 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Iowa | 110 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Wisconsin | 105 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| California | 41 | #1,843 | 0.1× |
| Nebraska | 38 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| North Dakota | 29 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Illinois | 28 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Kansas | 22 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 15 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Arlan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Arlan is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1912 it was given 2.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Arlan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 17,944 babies since 1880, Arlan is the third most given (19% of them). In 2025 it was given to 57 of their 254 babies (22%), the second 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 Arlan
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 Arlan and names like it
- Compare Arlan and ArlenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sArlan peaked in 1936.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Arlan since 1910.
- The top names of 1936The year the most babies were named Arlan.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Arlan alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.