Arlecia
A feminine name of modern coinage, potentially derived from the French "arlequin".
Name Census estimates that about 46 living Americans carry the first name Arlecia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arlecia today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arlecia births was 1964 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arlecia. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Arlecia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
46
~ 1 in 7,451,181 Americans
Peak year
1964
8 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1992 SSA rank
#13,465
Tracked since 1958
Census
Arlecia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 126 people with the first name Arlecia, which placed it at #49,344 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
#49,344
National first-name rank
People counted
126
126 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arlecia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlecia is Black at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Arlecia 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 Arlecia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.5% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 4
- Two or more races3.2% · 4
- White1.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 2
Popularity
Arlecia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arlecia from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 21 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Arlecia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arlecia 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 Arlecia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arlecia
The name Arlecia is of uncertain origin, with no clear consensus among scholars and linguists on its roots and earliest usage. Some theories suggest it may have evolved from the Old French name Arlette, which itself derived from the Germanic name Arluinda, meaning "completely gentle." Others propose it could be a variation of the Italian name Arlecchina, linked to the iconic Commedia dell'Arte character Harlequin.
One of the earliest known references to the name Arlecia can be found in a 14th-century French manuscript, where it appears as the name of a minor noblewoman. However, the name's usage remained relatively obscure until the 16th century when it gained some popularity among the French aristocracy.
Notable historical figures named Arlecia include Arlecia de Montfort (1295-1363), a French noblewoman and heiress to the County of Montfort-l'Amaury. Another was Arlecia de Valois (1376-1422), a Countess of Hainaut and a member of the French royal family.
In the 17th century, Arlecia Bonfiglio (1605-1682) was an Italian painter and poet from Perugia, known for her religious artwork and sonnets. Around the same time, Arlecia von Anhalt-Dessau (1630-1680) was a German princess and Regent of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau.
Moving into the 18th century, Arlecia Duvernay (1725-1798) was a French painter and engraver, renowned for her portraits and landscape paintings. She was a member of the prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris.
While the name Arlecia has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these examples showcase its sporadic usage across various European cultures and social circles, primarily among the nobility and artistic circles.
People
Arlecia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arlecia 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
Arlecia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arlecia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arlecia 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 7,451,181 US residents.
Is Arlecia a common name?
We classify Arlecia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 53 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arlecia most popular?
The single biggest year for Arlecia was 1964, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arlecia 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 Arlecia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 126 people with the name Arlecia, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,344 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 Arlecia 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 Arlecia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arlecia appears almost entirely female. Of the 116 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Arlecia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlecia is Black at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Arlecia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Arlecia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (114 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 Arlecia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arlecia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arlecia 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 Arlecia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arlecia 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 Arlecia 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 the name Arlecia?
See how many Americans are named Arlecia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.