Darian
A Persian masculine name derived from the word "daryā" meaning ocean or sea.
Name Census estimates that about 22,357 living Americans carry the first name Darian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Darian today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darian births was 1994 (1,543 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darian. 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 Darian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,331 Americans
Peak year
1994
1,543 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#901
Tracked since 1939
Census
Darian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,142 people with the first name Darian, which placed it at #1,705 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
#1,705
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,142 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darian is White at 38.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.4%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Darian 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 Darian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.1% · 6,911
- Black or African American28.4% · 5,154
- Hispanic or Latino20.7% · 3,763
- Two or more races8.6% · 1,568
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 441
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 305
Gender
Gender distribution for Darian
Darian is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 23,020 total registrations, 16,782 (72.9%) were male and 6,238 (27.1%) were female.
Darian as a male name
- Ranked #901 in 2024
- 260 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (674 births)
Darian as a female name
- Ranked #7,661 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (869 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darian on both sides of the split. Of the 18,136 people counted with this name, 12,741 were male (70.3%) and 5,395 were female (29.7%).
Popularity
Darian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darian from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 9,330 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darian 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 Darian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Darian, while Wyoming, Delaware, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 398 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darian
The name Darian has its roots in the Persian language, originating from the ancient Persian word "dara," which means "wealthy" or "prosperous." This name gained prominence during the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over a vast territory spanning modern-day Iran, Turkey, and parts of Central Asia between 550 BCE and 330 BCE.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Darian was Darius I, also known as Darius the Great, who ruled the Achaemenid Empire from 522 BCE to 486 BCE. He is renowned for his administrative reforms, construction projects, and military conquests, including the expansion of the Persian Empire into parts of modern-day Greece and India.
In ancient Greek texts, such as the works of Herodotus and Xenophon, the name Darian is sometimes spelled as "Dareios" or "Dariaios." These variations reflect the adaptation of the Persian name into the Greek language and culture.
During the Middle Ages, the name Darian gained popularity among various cultures influenced by the Persian Empire, including parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. In Islamic literature and historical records, the name is sometimes rendered as "Dariyan" or "Daryan."
One notable historical figure with the name Darian was Dariyan al-Attar, a 12th-century Persian poet and mystic from Nishapur, in present-day Iran. His poetic works, often imbued with Sufi themes, contributed significantly to the rich literary traditions of the region.
In the European context, the name Darian has been used sporadically throughout history, sometimes as a variation of the more common names like Darius or Darian. One example is Darian Brock, a 17th-century English author and translator who was born in 1628 and is best known for his translations of French works into English.
Another notable figure with the name Darian was Darian Leader, a British psychoanalyst and author born in 1958. He is renowned for his contributions to the field of psychoanalytic theory and his works exploring the intersection of psychoanalysis and culture.
During the 19th century, the name Darian gained some popularity in parts of Europe and North America, often used as a variant of the more common names like Darius or Darren. One example is Darian Hicks, an American abolitionist and educator who was born in 1809 and played a significant role in promoting education and civil rights for African Americans in the United States.
People
Darian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darian 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
Darian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darian 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 15,331 US residents.
Is Darian a common name?
We classify Darian 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, 23,020 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darian most popular?
The single biggest year for Darian was 1994, when 1,543 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darian is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,142 people with the name Darian, or 6.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,705 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 Darian 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 Darian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darian on both sides of the split. Of the 18,136 people counted with this name, 12,741 were male (70.3%) and 5,395 were female (29.7%). 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 Darian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darian is White at 38.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.4%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Darian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.1% (6,911 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 Darian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darian a male name?
Yes, 72.9% of people registered as Darian 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 Darian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darian 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 Darian 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 share the name Darian?
Find out how many Americans are named Darian on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.