Arlie
A diminutive form of the name Arlo, itself a shortened variant of Charles.
Name Census estimates that about 3,222 living Americans carry the first name Arlie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Arlie today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arlie births was 1921 (249 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arlie. 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 Arlie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 106,379 Americans
Peak year
1921
249 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,768
Tracked since 1880
Census
Arlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,986 people with the first name Arlie, which placed it at #5,661 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
#5,661
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
2,986 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlie is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.4%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Arlie 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 Arlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.6% · 2,527
- Black or African American4.4% · 130
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 121
- Two or more races3.5% · 106
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 64
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Arlie
Arlie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 9,218 total registrations, 6,696 (72.6%) were male and 2,522 (27.4%) were female.
Arlie as a male name
- Ranked #5,061 in 2024
- 19 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (170 births)
Arlie as a female name
- Ranked #2,768 in 2024
- 61 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (79 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arlie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,980 people counted with this name, 2,104 were male (70.6%) and 876 were female (29.4%).
Popularity
Arlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arlie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,942 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arlie 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 Arlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Kentucky, West Virginia, Texas recorded the most babies named Arlie, while Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 139 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arlie
The name Arlie is believed to have originated from the Old English language, derived from the words "ærlic" or "arlic," meaning "noble" or "honorable." This name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture and can be traced back to the early medieval period in England.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Arlie can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a variant spelling of "Ærlric" or "Arlric," referring to a landowner or freeman in various regions of the country.
During the Middle Ages, the name Arlie was primarily used by men, and it gained popularity among the noble classes and landed gentry. In the 13th century, there are records of an Arlie de Berkley, a prominent figure in Gloucestershire, England, who held significant landholdings and played a role in local governance.
As the centuries passed, the name Arlie continued to be used, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. One notable figure bearing this name was Arlie Muddiman (1610-1692), an English clergyman and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in the 17th century.
In the 19th century, the name Arlie gained some recognition with the birth of Arlie W. Waterman (1829-1903), an American inventor and entrepreneur best known for developing the first practical fountain pen.
Another individual of historical significance was Arlie Alford Culbert (1881-1974), a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada representing the district of Vancouver North from 1925 to 1935.
While the name Arlie has retained its roots in English-speaking countries, it has also been adopted and adapted in other cultures and languages. For instance, Arlie Hochschild (born 1940) is an American sociologist and academic, known for her influential work on the sociology of emotions and the concept of emotional labor.
Throughout its history, the name Arlie has been associated with a sense of nobility, honor, and respectability, reflecting its origins in the Old English language. Although not as common as some other names, it continues to be used today, carrying on its rich cultural heritage.
People
Arlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arlie 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
Arlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,222 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arlie 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 106,379 US residents.
Is Arlie a common name?
We classify Arlie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,218 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Arlie was 1921, when 249 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arlie is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,986 people with the name Arlie, or 0.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,661 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 Arlie 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 Arlie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arlie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,980 people counted with this name, 2,104 were male (70.6%) and 876 were female (29.4%). 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 Arlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlie is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (4.4%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Arlie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (2,527 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 Arlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arlie a male name?
Yes, 72.6% of people registered as Arlie 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 Arlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arlie 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 Arlie 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 Arlie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Arlie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.