← Back to The Name Registry
Boy

Arlen

Arlen means "Irish Oirealach" and comes from Irish, giving it real etymological depth as a boy's name. It is not as common as it was in the 1930s, though it has not disappeared. Today, it is on the rarer side without being unusual in the registry. It has appeared in U.S. birth records in nearly every decade since 1900, a genuinely long run.

IrishIrish "Oirealach"
EtymologyMeaning "pledge" or "little rock"
Births by decade
1900s
5
1910s
111
1920s
404
1930s
1,713
1940s
973
1950s
1,234
1960s
609
1970s
363
1980s
421
1990s
447
2000s
530
2010s
507
Peaked in the 1930s · 7,317 total U.S. births since 1900