Darline
A feminine name of English origin meaning "darling" or "little beloved one".
Name Census estimates that about 2,439 living Americans carry the first name Darline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Darline today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darline births was 1927 (129 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darline. 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
2.4K
~ 1 in 140,531 Americans
Peak year
1927
129 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,847
Tracked since 1902
Census
Darline in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,286 people with the first name Darline, which placed it at #5,284 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
#5,284
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,286 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darline
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darline is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (35.9%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Darline 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 Darline at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.4% · 1,426
- Black or African American35.9% · 1,181
- Hispanic or Latino15.3% · 502
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 84
- Two or more races1.9% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 32
Popularity
Darline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darline from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 879 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darline 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 Darline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darlines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, Missouri recorded the most babies named Darline, while Washington, Virginia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darline
The name Darline is a feminine given name of English origin. It is a variant of the name Darlene, which is derived from the Old French name Darine, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Darya. Darya is a feminine form of the name Darius, which was a masculine name of Persian origin meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous."
The earliest recorded use of the name Darline dates back to the late 19th century in the United States. It is believed to have been influenced by the popularity of the name Darlene during that time period. While the name Darline does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is likely that its roots in the Persian name Darius may have some historical significance.
One of the earliest notable people with the name Darline was Darline Gaylord (1904-1985), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films in the 1920s and 1930s. Another notable Darline was Darline Hill (1914-2001), an American jazz singer and actress who performed in the 1940s and 1950s.
In the literary world, Darline Zau (1929-2016) was a prominent Haitian poet and writer known for her works exploring themes of identity, feminism, and social justice. Darline Levy (1931-2020) was a French writer and screenwriter who authored several novels and screenplays for films.
More recently, Darline Graham Isenberg (born 1944) is an American artist and sculptor known for her large-scale public art installations, many of which can be found in major cities across the United States.
While not an exhaustive list, these are a few notable individuals who have carried the name Darline throughout history and across various fields of art, literature, and entertainment.
People
Darline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darline 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
Darline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darline 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 140,531 US residents.
Is Darline a common name?
We classify Darline as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,050 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darline most popular?
The single biggest year for Darline was 1927, when 129 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darline is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darline in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,286 people with the name Darline, or 1.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,284 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 Darline 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 Darline?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darline appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,291 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Darline?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darline is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (35.9%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Darline most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darline in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (1,426 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 Darline in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darline a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darline 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 Darline still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darline 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 Darline 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 are named Darline?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Darline at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.