Darelle
A feminine name derived from the French surname Darrelle, likely evolving from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 286 living Americans carry the first name Darelle. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Darelle today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darelle births was 1989 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darelle. 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.
People living today
286
~ 1 in 1,198,442 Americans
Peak year
1989
23 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,857
Tracked since 1974
Census
Darelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 323 people with the first name Darelle, which placed it at #28,012 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
#28,012
National first-name rank
People counted
323
323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darelle is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Darelle 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 Darelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.3% · 224
- White12.4% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 26
- Two or more races6.5% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Darelle
Darelle leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Darelle as a male name
- Ranked #12,579 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1989 (18 births)
Darelle as a female name
- Ranked #11,857 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1991 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darelle on both sides of the split. Of the 320 people counted with this name, 233 were male (72.8%) and 87 were female (27.2%).
Popularity
Darelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darelle from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darelle 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 Darelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darelle
The name Darelle is believed to have originated as a feminine form of the French name Daryl, which itself is a variant of the Scottish name Darrell. The origins of Darrell can be traced back to the Old English words "deor" meaning "deer" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing."
The combination of these two words suggests that the name Darrell may have initially referred to someone who lived or worked in a meadow frequented by deer. The earliest recorded use of the name Darrell dates back to the 12th century in England.
As for the specific variant Darelle, it is thought to have emerged in the 19th century as a feminine form of the traditionally masculine name Darrell. While the name Darelle does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it shares its roots with the Old English name Darrell.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Darelle was Darelle Porter (1849-1927), an American writer and editor who was born in Massachusetts. Another notable figure was Darelle Bunting (1919-2008), an Australian politician and community activist who served in the Parliament of Western Australia.
Other individuals named Darelle include Darelle London (born 1933), a Canadian actress known for her roles in television and film, and Darelle Revis (born 1985), an American former professional football player who won a Super Bowl championship with the New England Patriots.
Lastly, Darelle Graham (born 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) and later served as the head coach of the University of Missouri women's basketball team.
People
Darelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darelle 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
Darelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darelle 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 1,198,442 US residents.
Is Darelle a common name?
We classify Darelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Darelle was 1989, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darelle 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 Darelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 323 people with the name Darelle, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,012 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 Darelle 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 Darelle?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darelle on both sides of the split. Of the 320 people counted with this name, 233 were male (72.8%) and 87 were female (27.2%). 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 Darelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darelle is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Darelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (224 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 Darelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darelle a male name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Darelle 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 Darelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darelle 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 Darelle 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 Darelle?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Darelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.