Darragh
An Irish masculine given name, possibly derived from "darach" meaning "oak tree".
Name Census estimates that about 284 living Americans carry the first name Darragh. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Darragh today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darragh births was 2021 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darragh. 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 Darragh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
284
~ 1 in 1,206,881 Americans
Peak year
2021
16 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,515
Tracked since 1956
Census
Darragh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 446 people with the first name Darragh, which placed it at #22,352 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
#22,352
National first-name rank
People counted
446
446 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darragh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darragh is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Darragh 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 Darragh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.3% · 407
- Black or African American2.9% · 13
- Two or more races2.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Darragh
Darragh leans heavily male at 88.0% of total registrations, but 35 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Darragh as a male name
- Ranked #6,515 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (16 births)
Darragh as a female name
- Ranked #16,052 in 2002
- 5 female births in 2002
- Peak: 1992 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darragh on both sides of the split. Of the 442 people counted with this name, 304 were male (68.8%) and 138 were female (31.2%).
Popularity
Darragh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darragh from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 91 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Darragh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darragh 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 Darragh 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 Darragh
The name Darragh is an Irish given name derived from the Gaelic word "dair," meaning oak tree. It has its origins in ancient Celtic culture, where the oak tree was revered as a symbol of strength, endurance, and wisdom. This name is believed to have emerged in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 7th centuries AD, when Irish monasticism and bardic traditions flourished.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Darragh can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. It mentions a nobleman named Darragh O'Maoileachlainn, who lived in the 11th century and was a member of the influential O'Melaghlin dynasty from County Westmeath.
Throughout Irish history, several notable figures bore the name Darragh. One such figure was Darragh Ó Briain (1010-1064), a renowned Irish king and warrior who ruled the Kingdom of Munster from 1038 until his death. He was known for his military exploits and successful campaigns against rival Irish kingdoms.
Another prominent Darragh was Darragh O'Daly (c. 1590-1668), a notable Irish Catholic priest and scholar who served as the Archbishop of Tuam during the tumultuous period of the Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
In the realm of Irish literature, Darragh O'Rahilly (1775-1829) was a celebrated poet and Irish language scholar from County Kerry. He composed numerous works in the traditional Irish bardic style and was instrumental in preserving and promoting the rich heritage of Irish literature and language.
More recently, Darragh O'Brien (born 1975) is an Irish politician and member of the Fianna Fáil party, who has served as the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage since 2020.
While the name Darragh has its roots in ancient Irish culture, it has maintained its popularity and relevance throughout the centuries, with many notable figures bearing this name and contributing to various aspects of Irish society, from politics and religion to literature and warfare.
People
Darragh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darragh 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
Darragh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darragh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 284 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darragh 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 1,206,881 US residents.
Is Darragh a common name?
We classify Darragh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 291 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darragh most popular?
The single biggest year for Darragh was 2021, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darragh is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darragh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 446 people with the name Darragh, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,352 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 Darragh 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 Darragh?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darragh on both sides of the split. Of the 442 people counted with this name, 304 were male (68.8%) and 138 were female (31.2%). 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 Darragh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darragh is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Black (2.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Darragh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darragh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (407 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 Darragh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darragh a male name?
Yes, 88.0% of people registered as Darragh 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 Darragh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darragh 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 Darragh 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 Darragh?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Darragh at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.