Arlow

📖 About Arlow

Arlow is a modern English variant of Arlo, a name whose origins are debated but most commonly linked to the Old English term for a fortified hill or elevated ground. Some etymologists trace it to the Anglo-Saxon "hær hlaw," meaning army mound or rock hill, while others connect it to the Irish place name Aherlow in County Tipperary, derived from the Gaelic "idir dhá loch" (between two highlands). The name gained literary cachet through Edmund Spenser's 1596 poem "The Faerie Queene," which features the Hill of Arlo as a mystical setting. The variant spelling Arlow, with its softer terminal, emerged in the 21st century as parents sought distinctive yet familiar alternatives. The name carries connotations of natural beauty, quiet strength, and artistic sensibility—qualities reinforced by its association with folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Though never a chart-topping name, Arlow has found a niche among parents drawn to short, melodic names with pastoral undertones.