Arlo

Irish, English

"between two hills"

Arlo Origin and Meaning

The name Arlo is a boy's name of Spanish origin meaning "between two hills".

Arlo has many possible derivations: possibly a shortened form of Italian name Carlo, and in Basque-speaking regions it is the word for area. In English, Arlo was first used by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene and is thought to derive from the Celtic word Aherlow, meaning “between two highlands.”

Arlo, once strongly associated with shaggy singer Arlo Guthrie, has an animated and cheery feel, thanks to its upbeat o ending. It was chosen by Toni Colette for her son in 2011, which brought the name back into the spotlight – and the US Top 1000 that same year. Previously, Arlo was in regular use in the first half of the twentieth century—it was Number 667 in 1915, for example, but it had dropped off the charts in 1944.

However, quirky cool Arlo is now well and truly back and, although still below the Top 200 in the US, it consistently ranks among the most popular boy names on Nameberry. Arlo is even more popular in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

A growing number of girls are also named Arlo in the US each year, with a handful more babies of both sexes receiving the Arlow and Arlowe spellings, which take this name more into smart surname territory.

• 220 US 2020
• 1 Nameberry 2021
• 199 Future 2028
• 34 England 2019
• 44 Scotland 2020
• 33 Australia 2020
• 16 New Zealand 2020