Arlo is a highly popular boys' name in England & Wales, ranking #15 in 2025 with 2,083 recorded births. The name reached its all-time peak in 2023 with 2,253 births ranking #14. In 2025, approximately 1 in every 131 boys born was named Arlo. STABLE Recent data shows the name is currently stable.
Arlo is a stylish English name with an uncertain exact meaning. Behind the Name gives its strongest route as a literary and place-name-inspired form rather than a neat inherited definition.
The name may have been inspired by Arlo Hill in Spenser's The Faerie Queene, with that form likely influenced by the Irish place name Aherlow. Modern popularity has much more to do with sound and style than with a single simple literal meaning.