Arlette
A feminine diminutive of Germanic names containing "harl", meaning warrior maiden.
Name Census estimates that about 6,574 living Americans carry the first name Arlette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arlette today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arlette births was 2024 (516 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arlette. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Arlette with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.6K
~ 1 in 52,138 Americans
Peak year
2024
516 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#584
Tracked since 1913
Census
Arlette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,707 people with the first name Arlette, which placed it at #3,588 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
#3,588
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,707 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arlette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlette is Hispanic at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (23.1%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Arlette 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 Arlette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.9% · 3,644
- White23.1% · 1,320
- Black or African American10.5% · 598
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 65
- Two or more races1.0% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 21
Popularity
Arlette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arlette from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,883 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arlette 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 Arlette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arlettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Arlette, while Oregon, Oklahoma, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 161 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arlette
The given name Arlette has its origins in the French language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the Germanic name Arla, which itself is derived from the root name Arlo, meaning "little bear" in Old Norse. The name Arlette gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arlette can be found in the 11th century, when it was borne by the Norman woman Arlette of Falaise. She was the mother of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England. Arlette's relationship with Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, was considered scandalous at the time due to her humble origins as the daughter of a tanner.
In the 12th century, Arlette de Burgogne was a French noblewoman and the wife of Hugues III, Duke of Burgundy. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the Duchy of Burgundy during her time.
Arlette Laguiller, born in 1940, is a French political activist and former revolutionary worker-communist who ran for the French presidency several times between 1974 and 2007, representing the Workers' Struggle party.
Arlette Grussing, born in 1937, is a Danish former swimmer who won a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Arlette Ben Hamo, born in 1933, is an Israeli actress and singer of Tunisian descent. She has appeared in numerous films and television series since the 1950s and is considered a pioneer of Israeli cinema.
While the name Arlette has its roots in French culture, it has been adopted and used in various other countries and cultures over time, albeit with varying degrees of popularity.
People
Arlette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arlette 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
Arlette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arlette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,574 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arlette 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 52,138 US residents.
Is Arlette a common name?
We classify Arlette as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,508 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arlette most popular?
The single biggest year for Arlette was 2024, when 516 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arlette is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arlette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,707 people with the name Arlette, or 1.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,588 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 Arlette 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 Arlette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arlette appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,708 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Arlette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arlette is Hispanic at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (23.1%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Arlette most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Arlette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (3,644 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 Arlette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arlette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arlette 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 Arlette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arlette 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 Arlette 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 are called Arlette?
Find out how many people have the name Arlette on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.