Arlen

Where Arlen comes from

Arlen hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1909
    First appearance
    #1,440 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1930
    Arlen Specter born
    American politician
  3. 1934
    Peak, #380
    206 babies named Arlen — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1942
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #673.
  5. 1980
    Arlen Escarpeta born
    Belizean actor
  6. 2008
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Arlen Specter · American politician, 1930–2012
  • Arlen Escarpeta · Belizean actor, born 1980
  • Arlen Siú · Nicaraguan poet and Sandinista revolutionary, 1955–1975
  • Arlen Erdahl · American politician, 1931–2023
  • Arlen Ness · American entrepreneur and motorcyclist, 1939–2019

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.