Arlo a trend/fad name?

[March26]

We love arlo for our baby boy but concerned with its sudden surge and that it will be a ‘cringe’ fad name. Others on our list are Arthur Maxwell and James so very different ‘classics’ but we don’t currently love them as much! Please help we want him to love his name. We’d also need to find a nickname we like for arlo middle name will be Jacob for sure. Uk based.

I think calling a child Jasper is pretty brave. I can think of a couple of fictional Jaspers but I have been teaching for 30+ years and have never met a Jasper in RL so it must be fairly unusual.

I know 3 Arlos but they are 7-10 years old now. It is a bit of a trendy name but if you love- use!

I also think it will date - see here: Baby name explorer. But does this matter?

Arlo has always reminded me of Harlequin (Arlecchino in Italian), but I might be alone in that. I was surprised to learn that it's actually an English name, which goes back a few hundred years at least.

Tbh Arthur is nearly as faddy as Arlo - although I suppose with Arthur you do at least have the rich history (King Arthur etc) and do meet the occasional older Arthur.

BUT most names are subject to fads. If you want a boys name that’s completely timeless/non faddy you either have to go for something quite unusual (but then might risk spelling or pronunciation issues or DS just disliking having a name that stands out); or go for something eternally popular -ie. always in the Top 100 (in England at least), in which case you are limited to James, George, William, Edward, Alexander, Thomas, Joseph, Daniel, Michael or David afaik. Or maybe fellow classic names like Samuel, Benjamin, Henry etc that have only occasionally dropped in popularity so many people might still think of them as less faddy.

Personally I prefer popular but timeless names so I’d definitely go for James of your picks, but everyone has different tastes and others would just choose the name they like the sound of best and not worry if it dates their child. Horses for courses.

I love some of the ones on your list and Jacob will be his middle name. Thank you!

Ah, if Jacob is definitely set as the middle name (lovely choice btw) then you can’t really have James as the first as they are basically the same name -various different translations of the Hebrew original over time meant we eventually got the two variants. Unfortunately the link is too well known imo, for example the rule of James I is known as the “Jacobean Era” etc.

But I do think Samuel, Thomas and William have a very similar feel to James if that helps - perhaps it’s the repeated “am” letters! (although any of the other names in the timeless classic list would work well too).

I have an Arlo and couldn’t imagine him as anything else 🥰 he’s the only Arlo in his school

Arlo - was a hip name about 15 years ago. Now overused.
Arthur - ok but very popular
Maxwell - I like Max
James - Love it but it's a boring middle name.

Agreed. I think there are fewer 'timeless' names as well than people realise. Very few babies called George or Jack or Emma or Hannah in my parents' generation as they were old folks' names. No Arthurs or Jacks or Josephs in my year at school. There's a relatively short list of names i really couldn't date, and it excludes a fair few traditional names.

I do think Arlo is particularly dated - more so than other popular names, due to its sudden spike in popularity. As pp mentioned will likely be the equivalent of Darren 30 years ago. But if that doesn’t bother you then it is a nice name.

I think there are fewer 'timeless' names as well than people realise.
The classic ones tend not to appear dreadful when no longer fashionable.
There were very few called Arthur, George or Jack my age, because tthey were granddad names but the names came back soon afterwards.

I'd literally never heard of this name until about ten years ago. I didn't know a single Arlo when I was growing up. It's a nice name but, yeah, I do think it is in "fad name" territory.

If Arlo was a colour it would be Ecru beige, like the brand of clothing Adanola. Perfect for the Stanley carrying brigade

PLEASE don't fall into the 'we love this name but need a nickname' trap! A nick name is an 'alternate' name, not a shortening of the original name. Nicknames are names that bear no resemblence to the actual name, so Arlo's nickname might be Cuddlebum, Poochy, The Crawler, Boozie, etc.

He might be called Arlie or Lo for short.

I know a lot of Arlos and Arthur’s. Dd is 4 and has one of each in her class of 20 ish. At a baby group we went to 4 out of 10 babies were arlo 😳.

Jago is a nice (pronounced Jay-go) and more unusual mash up of James and arlo, I know 2. I think it’s Cornish.

@Mosaic80 , it's the Cornish version of James.

What about Arnold op?

It's an old name (Germanic/French I think, came to UK with the Normans) but to my knowledge not much used,

You could used Arno for short, which is more unusual so less at risk of dating him. It does sound like the Arno in Florence but I'm not sure that's a problem, especially for a nn. I actually like the sound of Arno better than Arlo. It reminds me of French Arnaud

I’m from NI and have been having a good laugh at the Arlo trend - it’s a totally bog standard name of many years here! Not a very nice one may I add.. seems to have a strange connotation with badly behaved little boys, have never met a particularly pleasant young Arlo.

I can't imagine Arlo still being up there in 20 years time so yes, I do think it will be a fad name I'm afraid. Names which explode in popularity generally fall away dramatically over the next 10-20 years.

Your other choices are much more classic.

Why do you need a nickname? Arlo sounds pretty nicknamey in itself.

At a stretch, you could have Arthur nn Arlo. It is a stretch, but doable.

I disagree. Names come and go in terms of popularity, but the timeless ones are always there (just in smaller numbers). Sometimes they're number 1 in the charts, other times they dip to 50, 100, even out of the top 100, but then they start a cycle of upward trajectory again. Timeless names never truly go away. Saying there were 'very few' of a name in our generation or our parents' generation doesn't mean they weren't still around in healthy numbers up and down the country as a whole. They just weren't the name of the moment at the time.

Just because I didn't know anyone personally called George or Jack my age when I grew up, doesn't mean there aren't any around. Those names never went away completely, they just weren't the popular names of the time.

A bit like Anna and Matthew etc not being overly popular currently, but they're definitely still around. They haven't pretty much died off with 5 or less registrations a year, which will eventually be the fate of faddy names.

Arlo definitely a fad name, but I have also heard James a lot recently so might become a fad one in a few years too.

Arlo, Ezra, Otis, Ira.

All fad 'old man' names.

If you like it, use it. But there will be more than one in the class. They're the 2020 version of the 1990s Jordan. Fad names get dated very quickly.

It is faddy.
Arlo doesn't need a nick name.
Arlo Jacob sounds great.

@user1492757084 , sofa so good?
Sofas | Handmade British Sofas | Arlo & Jacob

I really like it.

My sister's cat is called Arlo, but that doesn't make it a pet name. We've got a cat called (Princess) Leia and Leia is definitely a human name.

If you like it, use it. I got talked out of using "Noah" 27 years ago on the grounds that it was so old fashioned he'd be laughed at in school. 7 years later it was one of the most popular boys names in the UK