Dariush
A Persian masculine name meaning "wealthy and prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 141 living Americans carry the first name Dariush. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dariush today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dariush births was 1999 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dariush. 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 Dariush with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
141
~ 1 in 2,430,882 Americans
Peak year
1999
9 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,099
Tracked since 1978
Census
Dariush in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 513 people with the first name Dariush, which placed it at #20,216 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
#20,216
National first-name rank
People counted
513
513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dariush
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dariush is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Dariush 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 Dariush at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.7% · 409
- Two or more races10.9% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 8
- Black or African American0.8% · 4
Popularity
Dariush: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dariush from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 38 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Dariush remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dariush 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 Dariush during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dariushs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dariush
Dariush is a Persian name derived from the Old Iranian word "Dārayavahuš" or "Dāriavahush," meaning "possessor of good" or "wealthy." It traces its origins back to the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over ancient Persia from 550 BCE to 330 BCE. The name is closely associated with Darius the Great, one of the most famous rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, who reigned from 522 BCE to 486 BCE.
The name Dariush appears in various ancient Persian texts and inscriptions, including the Behistun Inscription, which was commissioned by Darius the Great himself. This inscription, carved on a rock face in present-day Iran, provides a detailed account of Darius' rise to power and his early conquests.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dariush can be found in the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. In these texts, the name is mentioned in the form of "Darayavahuš" and is associated with several mythological figures.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Dariush. One of the most famous was Darius III, also known as Codomannus, who was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire. He ruled from 336 BCE to 330 BCE and was ultimately defeated by Alexander the Great during his conquest of Persia.
Another prominent figure with the name Dariush was Darius the Mede, a historical or semi-legendary figure mentioned in the Book of Daniel in the Bible. He is said to have succeeded Belshazzar as the ruler of the Babylonian Empire around 539 BCE.
In more modern times, Dariush has been the name of several Persian poets and writers, including Dariush Shayegan (1935-2018), a renowned Iranian philosopher and writer known for his works on comparative philosophy and cultural studies.
Dariush Mehrjui (born 1939) is a celebrated Iranian film director and screenwriter who has won numerous awards for his contributions to Iranian cinema. His films often explore social and political themes within the context of Iranian society.
Dariush Dolat-Abadi (1927-2015) was an influential Iranian writer and journalist who played a significant role in the country's literary and cultural scene during the 20th century.
People
Dariush + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dariush 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
Dariush: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dariush?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 141 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dariush 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 2,430,882 US residents.
Is Dariush a common name?
We classify Dariush as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dariush most popular?
The single biggest year for Dariush was 1999, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dariush is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dariush in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 513 people with the name Dariush, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,216 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 Dariush 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 Dariush?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dariush appears almost entirely male. Of the 516 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Dariush?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dariush is White at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Dariush most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dariush in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (409 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 Dariush in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dariush a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dariush 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 Dariush still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dariush 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 Dariush 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 Dariush?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.