Variant of Arlene, possibly from Irish Gaelic meaning 'pledge' or a modern coinage.
Arlena is an elaborated, lyrical variant of Arlene, which itself emerged in the late nineteenth century as an English adaptation of the Irish Gaelic Airleas, a name of somewhat disputed meaning but often interpreted as pledge or oath. Some etymologists also link the family of names to the Germanic element arl, related to the Old High German for eagle, suggesting a bird of noble bearing at the name's deep root. The feminine suffix -ena gives Arlena a softer, more Continental warmth than its plainer relatives.
The name enjoyed a particular vogue in the United States between the 1920s and 1950s, when names ending in -lena and -ina carried a certain Art Deco elegance — think Marlena, Selena, Lorena. Arlena Mays, an African American pioneer in library science who founded the first library serving Black residents in Montgomery, Alabama, is among the name's more quietly heroic historical bearers. In crime fiction, Arlena Marshall is a glamorous and ill-fated character in Agatha Christie's 1941 novel Evil Under the Sun, lending the name a touch of golden-age Hollywood glamour and mystery.
Arlena has never been a blockbuster name, which gives it a certain heirloom quality — intimate and specific, the kind of name passed down through a family rather than plucked from a chart. In the present day its flowing three syllables and soft consonants make it feel simultaneously vintage and fresh, a gentle rediscovery waiting to happen for parents who want something genuinely uncommon but rooted in recognizable tradition.