Last summer, my husband and I took a vacation to Seattle to visit relatives, including his grandmother, who happens to live in a nursing home. Name enthusiast that I am, I took this opportunity to scan the nameplates on the residents’ doors, figuring I’d see plenty of old gems worthy of revival. Among the expected Dorothys and Helens and Franceses and Patricias, I spotted a name I’d never seen:
Arleigh
My first thought: What’s a six-year-old doing in a nursing home? The name seemed strangely anachronistic, more akin to the Hayleighs and Carlees of today than the Dorothys and Helens of her generation. Were her parents 80 years ahead of their time, I wondered. Had they just invented something that sounded cute to them? Or was this a legitimate name with a century-old history of use?
The U.S. Social Security website shows that Arleigh has not been ranked in the top 1000 names any time during the last 130 years. However, the spelling Arlie ranked for females almost every year between 1883 and 1922. What may be more surprising to us is that Arlie was even more popular for males — it ranked in the top 1000 from 1880 until 1962, peaking at #369 in 1904. (This is not such a surprise, however, when we remember that Shirley and Ashley were once almost exclusively masculine.)
The 1910 U.S. Census shows over 6,000 Arlies, over 2,000 Arleys, and almost 500 Arleighs. (Granted, you were about 50 times as likely to run into an Arthur as an Arlie, but the name was still in use.) Men made up 65% of the Arlies, 84% of the Arleys, and overwhelming 89% of the Arleighs. This is strange to my modern eyes, as “-leigh” spellings are now seen as almost exclusively feminine. The SSA data for 2009 shows 11 girls’ names spelled with the “-leigh” sequence (e.g., Ryleigh, Ashleigh, Hayleigh) and zero boys’ names. Any mother considering calling her son Ryleigh today would be told that spelling looked too girly — well, that was certainly not the case 100 years ago.
The most reliable name sites give the meaning of Arlie as “eagle wood.” (A few sites consider it a variation of Harley and give the definition as “hare clearing” or “rabbit meadow.) This puts Arlie in the category of Old-English-place-name-surnames-turned-given-names, with the likes of Riley, Ashley, Wesley, Preston, Dalton, Landon, and Hayley — all of which are quite fashionable today.
Arlie makes an interesting alternative for modern parents, as it is one surname-name that has yet to be discovered. Only two currently-living Arlies have been important enough to make Wikipedia — one is a female sociology professor at UC Berkeley, and the other is a male state representative in North Carolina. The meaning especially might appeal to patriotic parents in the U.S., as the bald eagle is our national symbol.
My main hesitation with this one is that it sounds somewhat incomplete — like Harley or Carly with the front end lopped off. But if your husband wants to name the baby Harley and you are adamant that your daughter will NOT be named after a motorcycle, Arleigh might be a workable alternative. Or if you are one who laments the fact that it’s no longer advisable to name a son Ashley, then Arley could be an interesting choice. Though it may still sound feminine to some, it hasn’t even been discovered by girls’ parents, much less stolen completely — your little masculine Arley will be the only Arley anyone knows.
So what do you think? Would you be in favor of Arlie on a child today? And which gender?
Have you heard of the book “The Most Wanted” By Jacquelyn Mitchard? The main character is named Arley, and it says in the book that she was named after the town in Texas by the same name.
I agree that it seems “incomplete”, I think a lot of people would hear the name and think that someone said Hayden instead. I think it’s a cute nickname for K/M/C/H-arley though.
I have not heard of that book. What kind of character is Arley? Is she someone after whom it would be good or bad to name a child?
Oh — and thanks for bringing up geographical references. A Wikipedia search also turned up an Arley, Alabama, and three villages called Arley or Upper Arley in England.
She’s a young girl (12 I think?) That ends up getting pregnant by a 30 year old prisoner. Not the best association for a child. Maybe a for a lizard or a goldfish?
Oh I forgot to mention— the town isn’t actually called Arley, but Arlington, and which is the character’s full name.
I could definitely see Arley on a little boy! I would probably assume it was for Charles. Arlie and Arleigh, though, seem a little feminine with those suffixes.
:] Interesting post!
Thanks! And I agree with you that Arley looks the most masculine.
It’s funny that you should write about this name, as I have a female friend with a variant spelling: Arlee. She was born in the mid-80s, and no one seems to know where the name came from (she was raised by her grandmother). She continued the unique naming trend when her son was born a few years ago by naming him Jaeryc (like “Eric” with a J).
I have a name delimma that sort of piggie backs on “Arley”
The names from my Matriline:
Ashley Anne(me)
Cynthia Lee (my mother)
Susie Mae (Gmom)
Arley Louise (GrGmom)
Eliza (GrGrGmom)
I’m pregnant with what I strongly believe to be a little girl and am looking through my matriline for middle name inspiration. Her first name with be Scarlett, which interestingly has “Arle” in it. I’m liking Eloise/ Eliza, but Scarlett Eloise/Eliza just seems like a mouthful with our three syllabul last name.
I love Scarlett Mae but that seems like a double thing name (i.e. April Joy).
My son is named Sawyer James and I would NOT like them to have the same initials. Monograms are a BIG deal in my life.
Thanks for any insight you might have!
Ashley:
Hmmm . . . I can see the trouble you’re having here. Maybe my random thoughts can help. Working within the parameters you specified, here’s where my mind went.
Following the so-called “baby naming rules” your ideal middle name would have one syllable for a 2-1-3 pattern. This makes Mae, Lee, and Anne contenders. Mae is my favorite of the three with Anne coming in second for pure commonality sake. However, there is a sort of continuity to having Anne as a middle when you pair it with your son’s name. After all, Anne is your middle name (so you’re not “just being lazy”) and your son has a less common first paired with a solid and familiar middle.
Due to the crowded “Ls” in -lett/Lee, Lee would be my least favorite of the one-syllable names when paired with Scarlett. I think you’ve probably thought the same, based on your transformation of Louise to Eloise. This problem is unfortunate, since Lee actually links loosely to almost every woman on your list!
If you’re okay with two double-syllable names, I did come up with “Thea” from your mom’s name. It has an interesting flow with Scarlett, making it almost seem like one whole name when said quickly. That might come in handy when you’re calling across a room!
I’d probably avoid using Ashley for the obvious Gone with the Wind connotation.
Personally, my favorite option out of everything is Scarlett Eliza, three-syllable last name and all. It worked in my head when I plugged it in to many of the common scenarios you would expect to use a name.
- Getting her attention
(“Scarlett, come here.”)
-Telling her off for misbehaving
(“Scarlett Eliza! Stop that!”)
-Listening to a teacher’s role-call
(“Scarlett Insert-Name?”)
-Attending a graduation where something more formal would be appropriate
(“Our next graduate is Miss Scarlett Eliza Insert-Name!”)
Good luck with your new little one!
Great post, great research, thank you. When you look back at the history of names, you see that parents back then, as today, followed “celebrities” (saints were celebrities in their day, as were figures such as Martin Luther, etc) as well as current events (e.g. babies named Liberty in 1918) in naming their kids. This idea is out of left field, but given the dates (1880 era), and looking at the name Arleigh phonetically, one of the first things that I see is R Lee. As in Robert E. Lee. Is it possible that a lot of those Arleighs running around, post Civil War, were a slightly covert tribute to Robert E. Lee?
That’s a very interesting theory! While Arleigh has a legitimate etymology as an Old English place name, it’s possible that a few parents could have chosen it as a tribute. I guess there is no way to know.
Thank you so much for this post – I recently was introduced to a baby Arley. Before, I would have thought they were saying “Harley” and dropping the aitch, or had named their daughter after Muhammad Ali for some reason.
However, thanks to this I knew the name Arley existed, and was able to look quite intelligent and didn’t keep calling her Harley or Ali or assume she was a boy.
i know a 7 yr old blue eyed blonde hair spunky Arley, the name suits her so well, and Arley’s older sister’s names are Audrey and Aleah. LOVE
My daughter’s name is Arlie Isabella. We love the name. The first time we heard it was on our honeymoon in Australia. We get really positive responses about the name and her siblings agree it is the best name ever. She is adorable and looks like an Arlie.