Arletha
An Old German name meaning "a nobleman's strength and virtue".
Name Census estimates that about 807 living Americans carry the first name Arletha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arletha today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arletha births was 1963 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arletha. 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.
People living today
807
~ 1 in 424,727 Americans
Peak year
1963
40 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1993 SSA rank
#10,698
Tracked since 1900
Census
Arletha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 846 people with the first name Arletha, which placed it at #14,041 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
#14,041
National first-name rank
People counted
846
846 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arletha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arletha is Black at 82.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Arletha 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 Arletha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.2% · 695
- White13.1% · 111
- Two or more races2.8% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
Popularity
Arletha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arletha from the 1900s through to the 1990s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 318 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arletha 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 Arletha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlethas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. North Carolina, Mississippi, Illinois recorded the most babies named Arletha, while Texas, Arkansas, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arletha
The name Arletha has its origins in the Old English language, likely emerging during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "ærle" meaning "noble" or "honorable" and "læþu" meaning "region" or "territory," suggesting a meaning of "noble region" or "honorable territory."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arletha can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of land holdings in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.
While Arletha does not appear to have been a particularly common name throughout history, there are a few notable individuals who bore this name. One such person was Arletha of Tewkesbury, a 12th-century abbess who oversaw the construction of the Lady Chapel at Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire, England.
Another historical figure with the name Arletha was Arletha de Meriet, a Norman noblewoman who lived in the 13th century and was known for her involvement in the disputes between King John and his barons, which ultimately led to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.
In the 14th century, Arletha de Huntingdon was a noted scholar and translator who produced Latin translations of several Greek philosophical texts, contributing to the preservation and dissemination of classical knowledge during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, Arletha Medici was a prominent Florentine noblewoman who served as a patron of the arts and supported the work of artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. She lived from 1470 to 1555 and was known for her cultural influence and patronage.
Another notable figure with the name Arletha was Arletha of Burgundy, a 16th-century French noblewoman who played a significant role in the religious conflicts of the Reformation era. She was born in 1525 and was known for her efforts to promote religious tolerance and peace between Catholics and Protestants.
While the name Arletha may not be as common today as it once was, its historical roots and associations with notable individuals from various eras and cultures make it a fascinating and intriguing name with a rich legacy.
People
Arletha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arletha 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
Arletha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arletha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 807 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arletha 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 424,727 US residents.
Is Arletha a common name?
We classify Arletha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arletha most popular?
The single biggest year for Arletha was 1963, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arletha is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arletha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 846 people with the name Arletha, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,041 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 Arletha 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 Arletha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arletha appears almost entirely female. Of the 844 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Arletha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arletha is Black at 82.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Arletha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Arletha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (695 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 Arletha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arletha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arletha 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 Arletha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arletha 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 Arletha 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 Arletha?
See how many Americans are named Arletha on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.