Arlo
Meaning
modern name of uncertain origin, popularly linked to "fortified hill"
The story
Arlo has lived twice. The first life was quiet and rural: the name enters the record in the 1910s, holds through the 1930s at a few hundred boys a decade, and thins to almost nothing by the 1960s. The folk singer Arlo Guthrie made the sound familiar to a generation in the late 1960s, and the 1970s do show a small rebound, though at this scale a decade can suggest a cause without proving one. The second life is the loud one: about 700 boys in the 2000s became more than 7,000 in the 2010s and over 13,600 so far this decade. Nobody is quite sure what Arlo originally meant. The fortified-hill reading is popular but unproven, and honest records say so. In our data it remains overwhelmingly a boys' name, about 24,000 boys to fewer than 900 girls in over a century of records.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Arlo peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
93 people · the #43,413 first name in Brazil · median age 34
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Arlo
Most people given the name Arlo in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Arlo deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Arlo truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Arlo fits with your family’s names and surname.
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