Arleigh
An Old English masculine name meaning "meadow of the cowherds".
Name Census estimates that about 826 living Americans carry the first name Arleigh. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 57.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Arleigh today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arleigh births was 2017 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arleigh. 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 Arleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Arleigh started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Arleigh sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
826
~ 1 in 414,957 Americans
Peak year
2017
43 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2023 SSA rank
#4,889
Tracked since 1902
Census
Arleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 861 people with the first name Arleigh, which placed it at #13,877 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
#13,877
National first-name rank
People counted
861
861 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arleigh is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Arleigh 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 Arleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 694
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 53
- Black or African American5.5% · 47
- Two or more races4.9% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Arleigh
Arleigh is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,208 total registrations, 517 (42.8%) were male and 691 (57.2%) were female.
Arleigh as a male name
- Ranked #10,922 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1921 (23 births)
Arleigh as a female name
- Ranked #4,889 in 2024
- 27 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (43 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arleigh on both sides of the split. Of the 866 people counted with this name, 307 were male (35.5%) and 559 were female (64.5%).
Popularity
Arleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arleigh from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 316 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Arleigh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arleigh 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 Arleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arleighs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Arleigh
The given name Arleigh has its origins in Old English and Anglo-Saxon roots. It is believed to be derived from the combination of two words: "Ær" meaning "before" or "early" and "Leah" which referred to a meadow or clearing. Thus, the name Arleigh can be interpreted to mean "early meadow" or "meadow before others."
This name was particularly prevalent in the regions of England and parts of Scotland during the Middle Ages. It was often used as a surname, but its usage as a given name can be traced back to the late 12th century. Some historical records suggest that the name may have been influenced by the Old Norse word "arleggr," meaning "early riser" or "early worker."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Arleigh was Arleigh de Montefort, a knight who fought in the Crusades during the late 12th century. Another notable figure was Arleigh Woodhouse, a prominent landowner and member of the English gentry in the 14th century.
In the 16th century, Arleigh Wilkinson was a noted scholar and theologian at the University of Oxford. He wrote several treatises on religious philosophy and was a respected intellectual figure of his time.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Arleigh Fairfax was a prominent military commander who served under Oliver Cromwell. He played a significant role in several key battles and was later appointed as a member of the Council of State.
In the 18th century, Arleigh Pemberton was a renowned painter and portrait artist who captured the likenesses of many influential figures in British society. His works are still celebrated and displayed in various art galleries across the United Kingdom.
While not as common in modern times, the name Arleigh has maintained a unique historical significance, carrying with it the essence of ancient English and Anglo-Saxon heritage.
People
Arleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arleigh 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
Arleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 826 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arleigh 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 414,957 US residents.
Is Arleigh a common name?
We classify Arleigh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Arleigh was 2017, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arleigh is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 861 people with the name Arleigh, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,877 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 Arleigh 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 Arleigh?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arleigh on both sides of the split. Of the 866 people counted with this name, 307 were male (35.5%) and 559 were female (64.5%). 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 Arleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arleigh is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Arleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (694 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 Arleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arleigh a female name?
Yes, 57.2% of people registered as Arleigh in the SSA data are female. 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 Arleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arleigh 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 Arleigh 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 have the name Arleigh?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.