Darby
Feminine · “deer settlement”
Darby is given to both — 8,338 girls and 2,940 boys since 1880. See Darby as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Darby is the deer settlement in Old Norse — djúr and býr — and the English city of Derby carries the same name.
How old is the name Darby?
Darby first appears in US birth records in 1936 — 89 years ago. The typical Darby alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 8,100 people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darby most popular?
Darby peaked in 1995, reaching #499 nationally. Today it ranks #2564, 2,065 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From djúr býr to Darby
The story of Darby
Derby was a Danish borough and its name is Norse, not English — one of the clearest markers of the Danelaw on the map, along with every other place ending in -by. The horse race takes its name from an earl of Derby. Darby entered American given-name use for both sexes and is in current use.
Meaning
deer settlement
From the Old Norse djúr, 'deer' or 'animal', and býr, 'farm' or 'settlement' — the Norse name for the place the English call Derby. The Norse býr closes hundreds of English place names in the Danelaw. The etymology is documented.
How the name formed
- djúr býr
- Derby
- Darby
Related forms: Derby · Diarmaid
Pronouncing Darby
DAR-bee
Two syllables, stress on the first. British Derby is DAR-bee too; American says DUR-bee.
Nicknames for Darby
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1936
- Most girls named
- 1995491 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #499reached in 1995
- Change vs 2023
- −8.1%68 in 2025, from 74
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Darby in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Derby in English — related form
- Diarmaid in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Darbys among us
people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 23,636 born in 2025 was named Darby
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Annemarie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darby's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annemarie climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annemarie's path sketches the road Darby is walking now.
Darby sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Darby is headed
Darby is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Darby beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That every English place ending in -by marks the Danelaw is a first-rate fact.
- The deer-settlement meaning is concrete and undisputed.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads as a surname and is used for both sexes.
- The horse race is a strong association.
- Darby is also used to anglicize the Irish Diarmaid.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Darby
Feminine · #2564 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darbys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,100 people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darby in 2025?
- Darby ranks #2564 among US girl names in 2025, with 68 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darby?
- About 1 in every 23,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Darby — 68 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darby with classmates?
- Darby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darby
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Manuela#2564 · Sabina#2564 · Jacklyn#2564 · Miliana#2564 · Xareni#2564 · Nyx#2564 · Porter#2564 · Davie#2564
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darby? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darby and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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