Darrius
A masculine variant of the Greek name Darius, meaning "possessor of wealth".
Name Census estimates that about 7,469 living Americans carry the first name Darrius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darrius today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darrius births was 1994 (319 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darrius. 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 Darrius with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.5K
~ 1 in 45,890 Americans
Peak year
1994
319 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,333
Tracked since 1962
Census
Darrius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,590 people with the first name Darrius, which placed it at #3,649 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
#3,649
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,590 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darrius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darrius is Black at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Darrius 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 Darrius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.6% · 4,615
- Two or more races6.8% · 382
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 272
- White3.9% · 216
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 68
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 37
Popularity
Darrius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darrius from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,801 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
Darrius 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 Darrius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darrius' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. Texas, Illinois, Georgia recorded the most babies named Darrius, while Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 210 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darrius
The name Darrius has its roots in the ancient Persian language, originating from the word "Dara", which means "wealthy" or "rich". It traces back to the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over a vast territory spanning from modern-day Iran to parts of India and Greece between 550-330 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in ancient Persian cuneiform inscriptions, where it was used to refer to nobles and members of the royal family. The name gained further prominence during the reign of Darius the Great, who ruled the Achaemenid Empire from 522-486 BCE and was responsible for significant administrative reforms and the construction of several impressive architectural marvels.
In ancient Greek literature, the name appears in the writings of Herodotus, the renowned historian who documented the Greco-Persian Wars. He mentions Darius I, the third Persian king of the Achaemenid Empire, who led the unsuccessful invasion of Greece in 490 BCE.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Darrius. One of the most famous was Darius III, the last king of the Achaemenid Empire, who was defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, marking the end of the Persian empire.
In the Middle Ages, the name Darrius was used by several Persian rulers, including Darius II (423-404 BCE) and Darius III (336-330 BCE), both of whom ruled during the later stages of the Achaemenid Empire.
Another significant figure was Darius the Mede, a biblical character mentioned in the Book of Daniel, who is said to have ruled the Medo-Persian Empire after the fall of Babylon in the 6th century BCE.
During the Renaissance period, the name Darrius was revived and used by several European scholars and writers who were fascinated by Persian history and culture. One notable example is the Italian humanist and philosopher Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), who wrote extensively about ancient Persian religion and philosophy.
In more recent times, the name Darrius has been adopted by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, although its usage remains relatively rare compared to other names of Persian origin.
People
Darrius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darrius 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
Darrius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darrius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,469 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darrius 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 45,890 US residents.
Is Darrius a common name?
We classify Darrius as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,661 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darrius most popular?
The single biggest year for Darrius was 1994, when 319 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darrius is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darrius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,590 people with the name Darrius, or 1.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,649 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 Darrius 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 Darrius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darrius appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,590 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 Darrius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darrius is Black at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Darrius most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darrius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (4,615 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 Darrius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darrius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darrius 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 Darrius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darrius 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 Darrius 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 Americans are named Darrius?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.