Arletha
Arletha was last recorded in 1993, when 7 babies were given it; 1,640 Americans have been recorded with it between 1900 and 1993 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Arletha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Arletha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #10,692, in 1993; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
40 babies in 1963, the peak
Arletha peaked in 1963, when 40 girls were given it, #1,839 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 7 | #10,692 | 3.9 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,130 | 2.6 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,794 | 4.7 |
| 1985 | 9 | #6,992 | 5.2 |
| 1984 | 9 | #6,847 | 5.3 |
| 1982 | 11 | #5,942 | 6.5 |
| 1981 | 8 | #7,443 | 4.8 |
| 1980 | 16 | #4,531 | 9.6 |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,115 | 8.1 |
| 1978 | 10 | #5,985 | 6.5 |
Every recorded year (82)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 12 | #5,234 | 7.8 |
| 1976 | 8 | #6,657 | 5.5 |
| 1975 | 14 | #4,378 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 17 | #3,703 | 11.6 |
| 1973 | 15 | #3,985 | 10.3 |
| 1972 | 23 | #2,908 | 15.1 |
| 1971 | 28 | #2,602 | 16.8 |
| 1970 | 20 | #3,217 | 11.4 |
| 1969 | 23 | #2,771 | 13.6 |
| 1968 | 29 | #2,250 | 17.7 |
| 1967 | 27 | #2,328 | 16.4 |
| 1966 | 36 | #1,921 | 21.3 |
| 1965 | 27 | #2,294 | 15.3 |
| 1964 | 37 | #1,951 | 19.5 |
| 1963 | 40 | #1,839 | 20.8 |
| 1962 | 34 | #1,990 | 17.3 |
| 1961 | 36 | #1,921 | 17.8 |
| 1960 | 29 | #2,152 | 14.3 |
| 1959 | 38 | #1,794 | 18.8 |
| 1958 | 36 | #1,820 | 17.9 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,067 | 13.7 |
| 1956 | 30 | #1,969 | 14.9 |
| 1955 | 29 | #1,979 | 14.8 |
| 1954 | 22 | #2,301 | 11.3 |
| 1953 | 26 | #2,018 | 13.8 |
| 1952 | 27 | #1,934 | 14.6 |
| 1951 | 25 | #1,968 | 13.9 |
| 1950 | 27 | #1,834 | 15.8 |
| 1949 | 25 | #1,919 | 14.6 |
| 1948 | 26 | #1,859 | 15.3 |
| 1947 | 24 | #1,996 | 13.5 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,971 | 14.0 |
| 1945 | 19 | #1,941 | 14.5 |
| 1944 | 20 | #1,918 | 15.1 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,949 | 14.3 |
| 1942 | 16 | #2,217 | 11.8 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,673 | 9.1 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,039 | 14.0 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,735 | 18.2 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,590 | 10.0 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,682 | 19.7 |
| 1936 | 23 | #1,555 | 22.1 |
| 1935 | 26 | #1,450 | 24.8 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,918 | 16.3 |
| 1933 | 22 | #1,609 | 21.8 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,525 | 23.4 |
| 1931 | 23 | #1,599 | 21.6 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,574 | 22.2 |
| 1929 | 29 | #1,421 | 26.0 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,738 | 19.9 |
| 1927 | 30 | #1,489 | 25.2 |
| 1926 | 25 | #1,671 | 21.1 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,849 | 18.1 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,812 | 18.4 |
| 1923 | 19 | #2,025 | 15.7 |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,116 | 15.0 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,824 | 18.7 |
| 1920 | 28 | #1,553 | 23.4 |
| 1919 | 17 | #2,072 | 15.0 |
| 1918 | 29 | #1,453 | 25.1 |
| 1917 | 14 | #2,320 | 12.9 |
| 1916 | 8 | #3,276 | 7.7 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,707 | 10.2 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,823 | 18.4 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,171 | 14.4 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,728 | 19.7 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,213 | 14.3 |
| 1910 | 7 | #1,949 | 17.7 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,127 | 15.0 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,087 | 15.7 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,207 | 34.4 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,951 | 16.7 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Arletha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Arletha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 82 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Arletha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Arletha, and how old are they?
An estimated 891 Americans named Arletha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (54% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 57 and 74. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 844 people named Arletha (840 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,016 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
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 Arletha born?
The states with the most babies named Arletha are North Carolina, Mississippi and Illinois, with 84% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 131 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Mississippi | 37 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 22 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 14 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 11 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Arkansas | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Arletha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Arletha is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.6 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 girls’ 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 Arletha 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 2,041 babies since 1880, Arletha is the most given (80% of them).
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 Arletha
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 Arletha and names like it
- Compare Arletha and ArlethiaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sArletha peaked in 1963.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Arletha since 1910.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Arletha.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Arletha alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.