The name Arlo is most commonly said to mean “from the hill fort” or “fortified hill,” but the truth is messier and more interesting than that tidy answer suggests. The name was first used by the English poet Edmund Spenser in his 1590s epic The Faerie Queene, where he “evidently invented” it as the name of a hill where the gods debate . That literary origin is the best-documented fact about Arlo, and it complicates every simple meaning claim that follows.
The “hill fort” meaning comes from Old English sources and appears in name reference books such as The Little Giant Encyclopaedia of Names . Parents magazine repeats this claim, noting that Arlo is thought to derive from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “stone or rock hill” or “fortified hill” . It is a reasonable theory, but it is not proven, and the same magazine admits Arlo has “no specific origin” and “many derivatives and meanings” .
A more credible thread connects Arlo to the Irish place name Aherlow, which means “between two highlands” . Spenser likely altered Aherlow into Arlo for his poem, which would explain why the name appears nowhere before the late sixteenth century . Nameberry also lists “between two hills” as the primary meaning, though it flags Irish and English roots without citing academic sources . The Aherlow theory is plausible because Spenser spent years in Ireland before publishing The Faerie Queene.
Other claims circulate widely but deserve caution. Some sources say Arlo is a shortened form of the Italian Carlo or Spanish Carlos, or that it means “area” in Basque . These theories appear on commercial naming sites without documentation and are not supported by the literary evidence. The German “hill” meaning also appears in popular articles, but no authoritative etymological dictionary confirms it . Readers should treat these as folklore rather than fact.
What can be verified is Arlo’s modern popularity, tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. In 2024, Arlo ranked 146th among boy names in the United States, with 2,481 male births recorded that year, its historical peak . The name first entered the top 1,000 in 1900, remained there until 1944, then dropped off for nearly seventy years before returning in the 2010s . Its revival is recent and steep.
Note on Arlo Parks: If you intended the British singer born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, she is a separate public figure. Verified details include: born August 9, 2000, in Hammersmith, West London; height reported as 5 ft 5 in by celebrity data sites (not an official source); won the 2021 Mercury Prize for Collapsed in Sunbeams and the 2021 BRIT Award for Best New Artist . Her net worth and confirmed partner details are not reliably established in authoritative sources.
Gender usage has shifted slightly. Arlo was traditionally male, but a 2018 Yahoo UK article noted its growing use for girls in England and Wales . Actress Leighton Meester and actor Adam Brody named their daughter Arlo Day in 2020, a high-profile example of this trend . Still, SSA data shows the overwhelming majority of Arlo registrations remain male, and the name’s public image is still predominantly masculine.
The most famous living Arlo is Arlo Guthrie, the American folk singer born in 1947. His signature achievement is “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” a rambling eighteen-minute monologue-song released in October 1967 that earned him his first recording contract . Guthrie performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and scored a hit with “City of New Orleans” in 1972 . Many U.S. radio stations still play “Alice’s Restaurant” every Thanksgiving, a tradition that has kept the name in cultural circulation for decades.
A younger Arlo has reshaped the name’s contemporary image. Arlo Parks is the stage name of British singer-songwriter Anaïs Marinho, born in 2000. She won the Hyundai Mercury Prize for Album of the Year in September 2021 for her debut Collapsed in Sunbeams . Presenting the award, judge Annie MacManus said: “We chose an artist with a singular voice who uses lyrics of remarkable beauty … and connects deeply with her generation as she does so” . Parks released her third album, Ambiguous Desire, in April 2026 .
Arlo also appears in popular culture. Pixar’s 2015 film The Good Dinosaur features a young Apatosaurus named Arlo as its protagonist . Netflix’s 2021 animated film Arlo the Alligator Boy gave the name another animated lead . These characters are not the reason the name became popular, but they have made it familiar to children and parents who might otherwise never encounter a folk singer from the 1960s.
Comparing Arlo to similar names clarifies its appeal. Harlow shares the “hill” association and the soft, rounded sound, but Harlow has historically been more common for girls. Milo shares the two-syllable, ends-in-O structure and a similarly quirky, warm feel, but Milo has deeper roots in Slavic and Germanic naming traditions. Arlo sits between them: less traditional than Milo, less feminine-coded than Harlow, and burdened with a more mysterious origin than either.
The honest answer to what Arlo means is that no one knows for certain. The “hill fort” reading is the most repeated, but the literary evidence suggests Spenser invented the name from an Irish place name. What matters more to most parents is how it sounds: short, friendly, slightly offbeat, and increasingly common without being ubiquitous. Arlo’s meaning may be disputed, but its modern identity is clear enough.
What does the name Arlo mean?
The most commonly cited meaning is “from the hill fort,” though some sources suggest “between two hills” . Its origin is debated: one theory links it to Old English, while another traces it to the Irish place name Aherlow. The name was first used by poet Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene (1590s), who likely invented it .
Is Arlo a boy’s name or a girl’s name?
Arlo is traditionally a male name, and U.S. data shows it remains overwhelmingly masculine: about 96 percent of registrations are male . However, it has gained some unisex traction, notably after celebrities like Johnny Knoxville and Leighton Meester used it for their daughters .
How popular is the name Arlo?
Arlo has surged in popularity recently. In the United States, it ranked 148th for boys in 2025 and peaked at 146th in 2024 with roughly 2,481 male births . It is also popular in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand .
What famous people or characters are named Arlo?
The most famous real-world bearer is folk singer Arlo Guthrie, known for “Alice’s Restaurant” . British musician Arlo Parks won the 2021 Mercury Prize . In fiction, Arlo is the protagonist of Pixar’s 2015 film The Good Dinosaur and the title character of Netflix’s Arlo the Alligator Boy .
