Darcy
Short and courteous; associated with the French surname Darcy meaning "from Arcy".
Name Census estimates that about 22,541 living Americans carry the first name Darcy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Darcy today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darcy births was 1970 (761 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darcy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Darcy with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
23K
~ 1 in 15,206 Americans
Peak year
1970
761 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#983
Tracked since 1915
Census
Darcy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,715 people with the first name Darcy, which placed it at #1,480 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,480
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,715 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darcy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darcy is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Black (3.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Darcy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Darcy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.4% · 19,630
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 1,193
- Black or African American3.1% · 704
- Two or more races2.9% · 662
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 325
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 201
Gender
Gender distribution for Darcy
Darcy leans heavily female at 89.3% of total registrations, but 2,760 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Darcy as a male name
- Ranked #3,805 in 2024
- 29 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (80 births)
Darcy as a female name
- Ranked #983 in 2024
- 262 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (681 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darcy leans strongly female. 20,450 people counted with this name were female (90.0%), compared with 2,264 male bearers (10.0%).
Popularity
Darcy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darcy from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 6,200 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darcy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Darcy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darcys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Darcy, while Wyoming, South Carolina, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 411 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darcy
The name Darcy is an English given name with origins dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Norman French place name D'Arcy, referring to various towns and villages in northern France. The name's roots can be traced back to the Old French word "erce," meaning a ridge or high ground.
In the late 11th century, after the Norman Conquest of England, many Norman nobles and their families settled in various parts of England, bringing with them their French names and place names. The D'Arcy family, who originated from the region of D'Arcy in Normandy, established themselves in England and adopted the anglicized form of their name, Darcy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Darcy can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several individuals with the surname D'Arcy, indicating the name's presence in England during that period.
The name Darcy gained prominence in the 13th century with the rise of the powerful D'Arcy family in England. One notable figure was Thomas Darcy (1508-1558), an English nobleman who served as Lord Chamberlain to King Henry VIII. He played a significant role in the dissolution of the monasteries during the English Reformation.
Another famous bearer of the name was Countess Mary Darcy (1622-1677), an English noblewoman and heiress who inherited vast estates and wealth. She was a prominent figure in the English Civil War and supported the Royalist cause against the Parliamentarians.
In literature, the name Darcy is most famously associated with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the male protagonist in Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice" (1813). Darcy's character, initially perceived as arrogant and aloof, undergoes a transformation throughout the novel, becoming a beloved and admired figure.
Other notable individuals with the name Darcy include Darcy Ribeiro (1922-1997), a Brazilian anthropologist, author, and politician who played a significant role in the development of educational policies in Brazil, and Darcy Kuemper (born 1990), a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing in the National Hockey League.
While the name Darcy has retained its English roots, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, reflecting the enduring appeal of its historical significance and literary associations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Darcy
People
Darcy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darcy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Darcy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darcy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,541 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darcy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 15,206 US residents.
Is Darcy a common name?
We classify Darcy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,860 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darcy most popular?
The single biggest year for Darcy was 1970, when 761 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darcy is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darcy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,715 people with the name Darcy, or 7.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,480 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Darcy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Darcy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darcy leans strongly female. 20,450 people counted with this name were female (90.0%), compared with 2,264 male bearers (10.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Darcy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darcy is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Black (3.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Darcy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darcy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (19,630 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Darcy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darcy a female name?
Yes, 89.3% of people registered as Darcy in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Darcy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darcy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Darcy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Darcy?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Darcy, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.