Arline
A female name of French origin meaning "bear-like" or "honorable".
Name Census estimates that about 3,093 living Americans carry the first name Arline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arline today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arline births was 1924 (677 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arline. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Arline is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Arlines were born before 1966.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,816 Americans
Peak year
1924
677 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1934 SSA rank
#3,310
Tracked since 1883
Census
Arline in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,222 people with the first name Arline, which placed it at #3,794 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
#3,794
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arline
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arline is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Arline 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 Arline at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.4% · 3,990
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 626
- Black or African American7.3% · 380
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 128
- Two or more races1.5% · 77
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Arline
Out of the 17,626 babies given the name Arline since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Arline as a male name
- Ranked #3,310 in 1934
- 6 male births in 1934
- Peak: 1929 (9 births)
Arline as a female name
- Ranked #15,441 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1924 (677 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arline appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,222 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Arline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arline 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 5,843 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
Arline 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 Arline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Arline, while Utah, Hawaii, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 316 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arline
The name Arline is derived from the French name Arline, which is a feminine form of the name Arlen or Arlay. The name Arlen is believed to have its roots in the Old French word "arlen," meaning "little thorn" or "little branch."
The name Arline gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in France and parts of Europe, where it was often used as a diminutive or nickname for names like Arlette or Arlene. It was also associated with the Latin word "arlindo," meaning "small harp," which may have contributed to its musical connotations.
While the name Arline does not have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it was not uncommon during the medieval period, especially among families of French or Norman descent. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Arline dates back to the late 12th century, when it was mentioned in a French manuscript from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Arline. One of the earliest was Arline de Thouars (c. 1250 – c. 1300), a French noblewoman and heiress who played a significant role in the Poitevin War of Succession in the late 13th century.
Another prominent figure was Arline Michaelis (1894 – 1973), an American singer and actress who was a popular vaudeville performer in the early 20th century. She was known for her recordings and appearances in several Broadway musicals.
In the field of literature, Arline Pacht (1925 – 2005) was an American author and poet who published several collections of poetry and received numerous awards for her work, including the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America.
Arline Valentin (1901 – 1992) was a French-born American soprano and opera singer who performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York and other prestigious companies during the mid-20th century.
Arline Feynman (1916 – 1988) was an American artist and the wife of the renowned physicist Richard Feynman. She played a significant role in supporting her husband's groundbreaking work and was an accomplished artist in her own right.
People
Arline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arline 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
Arline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,093 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arline 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 110,816 US residents.
Is Arline a common name?
We classify Arline as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,626 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arline most popular?
The single biggest year for Arline was 1924, when 677 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arline is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arline in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,222 people with the name Arline, or 1.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,794 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 Arline 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 Arline?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arline appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,222 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Arline?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arline is White at 76.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Arline most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arline in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.4% (3,990 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 Arline in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arline a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Arline 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 Arline still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arline 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 Arline 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 named Arline?
Want to know how many Americans are named Arline? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.