Darrel
A masculine given name of French origin meaning "wandering and free".
Name Census estimates that about 19,307 living Americans carry the first name Darrel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darrel today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darrel births was 1960 (664 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darrel. 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 Darrel with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Darrel is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 122 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 17,753 Americans
Peak year
1960
664 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,265
Tracked since 1900
Census
Darrel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,964 people with the first name Darrel, which placed it at #1,654 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
#1,654
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
18,964 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darrel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darrel is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Darrel 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 Darrel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 14,126
- Black or African American16.0% · 3,039
- Two or more races3.0% · 563
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 524
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 385
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 327
Gender
Gender distribution for Darrel
Out of the 29,871 babies given the name Darrel since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Darrel as a male name
- Ranked #5,265 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (659 births)
Darrel as a female name
- Ranked #9,071 in 1974
- 5 female births in 1974
- Peak: 1954 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darrel appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,962 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Darrel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darrel from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 6,072 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darrel 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 Darrel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darrels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Darrel, while Nevada, Alaska, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 550 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darrel
The name Darrel is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English words "deor" meaning beloved or dear, and "ræl" meaning counsellor or adviser. It emerged in the medieval period, specifically during the 12th century, as a diminutive form of the name Darrell.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Darrel can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Darrell is mentioned. This suggests that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon nobility before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
In the 13th century, a Darrel de Windesore was recorded as a knight and landowner in Berkshire, England. This indicates that the name was associated with the aristocracy and gentry during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, Darrel Glemham was a notable English landowner and Member of Parliament who lived from 1508 to 1589. He played a role in the political and religious turmoil of the 16th century, supporting the Protestant Reformation.
In the 17th century, Darrel Donne was a prominent English clergyman and author who lived from 1587 to 1637. He wrote several religious works and served as a chaplain to King James I.
Another notable bearer of the name was Darrel Wilkinson, a British naval officer who lived from 1719 to 1776. He served in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, earning the rank of Rear Admiral.
Moving into more recent history, Darrel Porter was an American professional baseball player who lived from 1952 to 2002. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball and was part of the Kansas City Royals team that won the World Series in 1985.
People
Darrel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darrel 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
Darrel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darrel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,307 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darrel 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 17,753 US residents.
Is Darrel a common name?
We classify Darrel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,871 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darrel most popular?
The single biggest year for Darrel was 1960, when 664 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darrel is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darrel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,964 people with the name Darrel, or 6.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,654 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 Darrel 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 Darrel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darrel appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,962 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Darrel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darrel is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Darrel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darrel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (14,126 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 Darrel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darrel a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Darrel 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 Darrel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darrel 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 Darrel 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 called Darrel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.