Darron
An English masculine name derived from the Old French Derion.
Name Census estimates that about 5,696 living Americans carry the first name Darron. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darron today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darron births was 1965 (372 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darron. 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 Darron with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.7K
~ 1 in 60,175 Americans
Peak year
1965
372 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,473
Tracked since 1945
Census
Darron in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,673 people with the first name Darron, which placed it at #4,118 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
#4,118
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,673 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darron
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darron is Black at 54.2%. The next largest groups are White (36.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Darron 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 Darron at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.2% · 2,532
- White36.1% · 1,685
- Two or more races4.3% · 200
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 145
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 65
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 46
Popularity
Darron: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darron from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,938 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darron 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 Darron during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darrons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, California, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Darron, while Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 126 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darron
The name Darron is an English variant of the French name Daron, which is a diminutive form of the name Darius. The name Darius has its origins in the Persian language and can be traced back to the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over a vast territory spanning from modern-day Iran to parts of Greece and Egypt.
The name Darius is derived from the Old Persian word "Dārayavahuš," which means "he who holds firm the good." This name was borne by several Persian kings, the most famous being Darius I, also known as Darius the Great, who reigned from 522 to 486 BCE. He consolidated and expanded the Achaemenid Empire, making it one of the largest empires in ancient history.
The first recorded instances of the name Darron can be found in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, likely as a variant of the more common names Darius and Daron. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Darron was Darron Puncheon, an English politician and Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire in the late 16th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Darron. One such individual was Darron Stiles (1657-1734), an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics. Another was Darron Wilkinson (1779-1842), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars and later became a Member of Parliament.
In the realm of literature, Darron Greenfield (1884-1958) was an American novelist and short story writer known for his works depicting life in the American West. Darron Lamont (1920-1992) was a celebrated African American poet and playwright whose works explored themes of racial identity and social justice.
Finally, Darron Gilliard (1954-2018) was a prominent American actor and director who appeared in numerous films and television shows, including "The Wire" and "Oz." He was widely praised for his versatility and ability to portray complex characters.
While the name Darron may have originated from ancient Persian roots, it has since become a part of the English-speaking world, with various individuals bearing this name leaving their mark across various fields throughout history.
People
Darron + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darron 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
Darron: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darron?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darron 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 60,175 US residents.
Is Darron a common name?
We classify Darron as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darron most popular?
The single biggest year for Darron was 1965, when 372 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darron is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darron in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,673 people with the name Darron, or 1.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,118 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 Darron 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 Darron?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darron appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,669 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Darron?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darron is Black at 54.2%. The next largest groups are White (36.1%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Darron most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darron in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.2% (2,532 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 Darron in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darron a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darron 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 Darron still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darron 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 Darron 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 Darron?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.