Arland
Derived from the Old English name meaning "land by the hermit's dwelling".
Name Census estimates that about 722 living Americans carry the first name Arland. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Arland today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arland births was 1935 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arland. 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.
People living today
722
~ 1 in 474,729 Americans
Peak year
1935
51 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,337
Tracked since 1901
Census
Arland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 826 people with the first name Arland, which placed it at #14,291 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
#14,291
National first-name rank
People counted
826
826 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arland is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Arland 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 Arland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.3% · 663
- Black or African American10.7% · 88
- Two or more races3.5% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Arland
Out of the 1,804 babies given the name Arland since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Arland as a male name
- Ranked #9,016 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1935 (51 births)
Arland as a female name
- Ranked #5,337 in 1950
- 5 female births in 1950
- Peak: 1950 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arland leans strongly male. 800 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 32 female bearers (3.8%).
Popularity
Arland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arland from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 415 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arland 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 Arland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Minnesota, Wisconsin, California recorded the most babies named Arland, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arland
The name Arland has its origins in Old English and dates back to the 5th century CE. It is a compound name derived from the words "ær" meaning "before" and "land" meaning "land" or "territory." The name likely originated among the Anglo-Saxon tribes that settled in what is now England after the withdrawal of Roman forces from Britain.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arland can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an important historical record that covers the period from the Roman conquest of Britain to the late 11th century. The name is mentioned in an entry from the year 592 CE, referring to an Arland who was a thegn (a noble attendant or servant) in the court of King Aethelberht of Kent.
In the 9th century, an Arland was recorded as a witness to a land charter issued by King Aethelwulf of Wessex, which granted estates to the Church. This Arland is believed to have been a prominent landowner or official during that time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Arland was also found in various monastic records and church registers, suggesting its continued use among the Anglo-Saxon population. One notable individual from this period was Arland of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk who lived in the late 11th century and served as the prior of Christ Church Priory in Canterbury.
In the 12th century, an Arland is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II, a record of financial accounts and transactions in medieval England. This Arland was likely a landowner or taxpayer during the reign of King Henry II.
Another historically significant figure who bore the name Arland was Arland of Halton, a 13th-century English nobleman and landowner from Cheshire. He was a signatory to the Magna Carta in 1215, which limited the power of the monarch and established certain rights and liberties for the people of England.
While the name Arland has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of English names with deep historical roots and connections to the Anglo-Saxon heritage of Britain.
People
Arland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arland 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
Arland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arland 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 474,729 US residents.
Is Arland a common name?
We classify Arland as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,804 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arland most popular?
The single biggest year for Arland was 1935, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arland is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 826 people with the name Arland, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,291 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 Arland 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 Arland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arland leans strongly male. 800 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 32 female bearers (3.8%). 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 Arland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arland is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Arland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.3% (663 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 Arland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arland a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Arland 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 Arland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arland 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 Arland 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 people are called Arland?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.