Darek
Masculine variant of the Slavic name Derek, meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 1,470 living Americans carry the first name Darek. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darek today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darek births was 1973 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darek. 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 Darek with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 233,166 Americans
Peak year
1973
53 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,703
Tracked since 1957
Census
Darek in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,490 people with the first name Darek, which placed it at #9,356 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
#9,356
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,490 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darek
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darek is White at 75.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (8.1%). 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 Darek 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 Darek at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.2% · 1,121
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 139
- Black or African American8.1% · 120
- Two or more races3.6% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 17
Popularity
Darek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darek from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 325 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Darek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darek 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 Darek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dareks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Darek, while Florida, Michigan, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darek
The name Darek is of Slavic origin, specifically from the Polish language. It is a diminutive form of the name Dariusz, which is derived from the Old Persian name Daryavahush, meaning "possessor of wealth" or "rich". The name Darek has been in use since the Middle Ages in Poland and other Slavic countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Darek can be found in a 14th-century Polish chronicle, where it was mentioned as the name of a nobleman from the region of Lesser Poland. During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity among the Polish nobility and gentry.
In the 16th century, Darek Kołudzki (born around 1510 - died after 1570) was a Polish nobleman and military commander who fought in the wars against the Teutonic Knights and the Ottomans. He is known for his bravery and leadership during the Siege of Malbork in 1535.
Another notable figure from history with the name Darek is Darek Fidler (1688-1765), a Polish mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of comets and celestial mechanics. He was a professor at the University of Krakow and a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences.
In the 19th century, Darek Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) was a Polish writer and journalist who is best known for his novel "Quo Vadis". He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his works depicting the struggles and triumphs of the Polish people.
Darek Michalski (1906-1985) was a Polish composer and conductor who was influential in the development of Polish contemporary music. He was a professor at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and his compositions were performed internationally.
Darek Wójcik (born 1974) is a contemporary Polish football player who played as a defender for several clubs in Poland and Germany, including Legia Warsaw and Borussia Dortmund. He also represented the Polish national team and participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
People
Darek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darek 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
Darek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,470 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darek 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 233,166 US residents.
Is Darek a common name?
We classify Darek as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,534 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darek most popular?
The single biggest year for Darek was 1973, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darek is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darek in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,490 people with the name Darek, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,356 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 Darek 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 Darek?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darek appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,487 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Darek?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darek is White at 75.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.3%) and Black (8.1%). 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 Darek most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darek in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.2% (1,121 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 Darek in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darek a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darek in the SSA data are male. 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 Darek still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darek 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 Darek 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 common is the name Darek?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Darek at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.