Arlo
Torn between Arlo and another name? Compare them side by side →
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.
How popular is Arlo around the world?
In the United States, 13,686 babies were named Arlo between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 177 boys named Arlo were registered in 2024, the 18th most common name among boys that year.
Arlo is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, South Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, New South Wales, France, Mexico City, Austria, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 1,600
In the United States, 13,686 babies were named Arlo between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Arlo peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 250
In Scotland, 177 boys named Arlo were registered in 2024, the 18th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 280
In England and Wales, 2,083 boys named Arlo were born in 2025, the 15th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
South Australia
1 in 3002017
In South Australia, 60 boys were registered as Arlo in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 540
In Ireland, 100 boys named Arlo were born in 2025, the 54th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
New Zealand
1 in 700
In New Zealand, 83 boys named Arlo were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Canada
1 in 1,100
In Canada, 322 boys named Arlo were born in 2024, the 88th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New South Wales
#47 · 2025
In New South Wales, 148 boys named Arlo were registered in 2025, ranked 47th in that year’s top 100 for boys.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
France
1 in 9,200
In France, about 70 boys named Arlo were born in 2025, the 624th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Mexico City City
1 in 59,000
In Mexico City, there were 2 registrations of Arlo in 2022.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 boy named Arlo was born in 2025, ranked 1,842nd among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Spain
1 in 1.1M
In Spain, 39 residents are named Arlo, ranked 17,644th among men, with a mean age of 6.1 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 93 people in Brazil were named Arlo, ranked 43,413th, with a median age of 34.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Poland
last on record 2024
Arlo is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Not on the record in Argentina and Puerto Rico: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
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.
Keep exploring
Names like Arlo · Names that go with Arlo · Middle names for Arlo · Short names · Nickname-proof names
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.
Does Arlo fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Arlo to your family’s tree →