Arlene

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Arlène in FR France.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Arlene is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name464K records spelled Arlene12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Philippines, Mexico

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French

  Also written Arlène, Arléne, Arleñe, Arlënë, Àrlene

• a separate given name57K records spelled Arlene3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Arlène, Arlëne

• Indonesian given name8.5K records spelled Arlene4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Arlène, Ärlënë

• Polish given name4.3K records spelled Arlene20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, United Kingdom, Russia

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Arleen, Arline, Арлин, Arlin, Arlien

• Italian given name4.1K records spelled Arlene2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Philippines

  Also written Arlène

• Hungarian given name3.2K records spelled Arlene4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, Philippines

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Arlène

51 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Arlene is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A female given name originating as a coinage.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• English: modern coinage, most common in the United States. It is of unknown origin, probably a fanciful coinage based on MARLENE or CHARLENE or on both.

  as a word

• In Breton, l’an dernier

  as a word·Deshayes, Dictionnaire étymologique du breton (2003)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 138 years between 1888–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Arlene Francisb. 1907USAmerican actress and television host (1907–2001)
• Arlene Dahlb. 1925USAmerican actress (1925–2021)
• Arlene Aldab. 1933USAmerican photographer and writer
• Arlene Martelb. 1936USAmerican writer, actress and acting coach (1936–2014)
• Arlene Golonkab. 1936USactress (1936–2021)
• Arlene Phillipsb. 1943GBBritish choreographer
• Judith Resnikb. 1949USnot in their usual nameAmerican engineer and astronaut (1949–1986)
• Arlene Sanfordb. 1950USFilm director, television director
• Miriam Stockleyb. 1962GBnot in their usual nameBritish singer
• Arlene Fosterb. 1970GBBritish politician (born 1970)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 605 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Arlene?

We estimate roughly 102 thousand people bear Arlene (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Arlene have the most bearers?

Arlene is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled arlene.

How common is Arlene compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Arlene is the 111th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Arlene a male or female name?

Arlene is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Arlene mean?

Recorded meaning: Modern coinage, especially common in ARTEMAS ARTEMIS the goddess pArtemis (for example, Artemidoros ‘gift of Artemis’ and Artemisthenes ‘strength of Artemis’).