Arlan
A masculine name of Turkish origin meaning "lion".
Name Census estimates that about 2,069 living Americans carry the first name Arlan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arlan today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arlan births was 1936 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arlan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Arlan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 165,662 Americans
Peak year
1936
87 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,745
Tracked since 1912
Census
Arlan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,108 people with the first name Arlan, which placed it at #7,287 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,287
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,108 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arlan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlan is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Hispanic (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Arlan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Arlan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 1,688
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 106
- Black or African American4.1% · 86
- Two or more races2.8% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 36
Popularity
Arlan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arlan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 606 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Arlan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arlan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Arlan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa recorded the most babies named Arlan, while Oregon, Ohio, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arlan
The name Arlan is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with its roots dating back to the 5th century AD. The name is thought to be derived from the Old English words "ær," meaning "honor," and "land," meaning "land" or "estate." Thus, the name Arlan could be interpreted as "honorable landowner" or "esteemed estate."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arlan can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which documents the history of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. The name appears in an entry from the year 612 AD, referring to a nobleman named Arlan of Northumbria.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Arlan was primarily used by the nobility and landed gentry in England. Several historical figures bore this name, including Arlan of Mercia (c. 750 AD), a prominent nobleman and advisor to King Offa of Mercia. Another notable figure was Arlan the Scribe (c. 980 AD), a renowned monk and calligrapher who produced exquisite illuminated manuscripts for monasteries in Wessex.
During the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century, the name Arlan became less common as Norman French names gained prominence among the ruling class. However, it remained in use among the Anglo-Saxon population, particularly in rural areas.
In the 13th century, a notable bearer of the name was Arlan FitzWilliam (c. 1220 AD), a wealthy landowner and benefactor who funded the construction of several churches and monasteries in Yorkshire, England. Another prominent figure was Sir Arlan de Warenne (c. 1280 AD), a skilled knight and military commander who served under King Edward I during the Welsh Wars.
In more recent history, Arlan Coulter (1898-1976) was a respected American journalist and author who wrote extensively about the American West and was known for his vivid descriptions of frontier life.
While the name Arlan has fallen out of common use in modern times, it remains a unique and historically significant name with deep roots in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, reflecting the values of honor, nobility, and land ownership.
People
Arlan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arlan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Arlan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arlan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,069 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arlan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 165,662 US residents.
Is Arlan a common name?
We classify Arlan as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,377 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arlan most popular?
The single biggest year for Arlan was 1936, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arlan is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arlan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,108 people with the name Arlan, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,287 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Arlan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Arlan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arlan leans strongly male. 2,060 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 47 female bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Arlan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlan is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Hispanic (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Arlan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arlan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (1,688 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Arlan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arlan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arlan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Arlan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arlan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Arlan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Arlan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.