Darby
Masculine · “deer settlement”
Darby is given to both — 2,940 boys and 8,338 girls since 1880. See Darby as a girl nameSee other names given to both
The English town is spelled Derby and said Darby, and that mismatch is the whole story of this name. English once said er as ar in a great many words, and clerk, sergeant and Derby are the survivors; Darby is the pronunciation preserved as a spelling.
How old is the name Darby?
Darby first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Darby alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 2,600 people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darby most popular?
Darby peaked in 1970, reaching #721 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 5,725 places below that high. See the whole 1970 chart.
Where it comes from
From djur by to Darby
The story of Darby
Scandinavian settlers named a great many places in the English midlands and north, and Derby is one of theirs. English then went through a sound change in which er became ar in many words, and spelling reform later reversed most of them on paper without reversing them in speech, which is why an English speaker says clark for clerk and darby for Derby. The Darby spelling is the one that gave up on the mismatch. In Ireland Darby served as an English stand-in for Diarmaid, and both routes fed into American use. Its best year in United States records is 1970, and it is now used for both sexes.
Meaningscholars disagree
deer settlement
Derby in England is from Old Norse djur, a deer, plus by, a settlement or farm, the same by that ends Whitby, Grimsby and Rugby. The Irish Darby is a separate matter: it was used as an anglicization of Diarmaid, a Gaelic name of uncertain sense sometimes read as without envy, and the two routes are unrelated except in sound.
How the name formed
- djur by
- Derby
- Darby
Related forms: Derby · Diarmaid · Djurby
Pronouncing Darby
DAR-bee
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Identical to the English pronunciation of Derby, and different from the American pronunciation of that word, which follows the spelling.
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 1969102 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #721reached in 1970
- Change vs 2023
- −35.0%13 in 2025, from 20
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 — spelling variant
- Diarmaid in Irish — related form
- Djurby in Old Norse — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Darbys among us
people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 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 Derald 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: Derald climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Derald'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
Darby beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Norse place name with a clear meaning behind it.
- Fully unisex in current American use, which some families want.
- The spelling matches the sound, which the original does not.
- Derby is the standard spelling of the place and is said differently in America.
- It has become more common for girls than boys in recent United States records.
- The Irish route and the English route give completely different meanings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Darby
Masculine · #6446 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 2,600 people named Darby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darby in 2025?
- Darby ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darby?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Darby — 13 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.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darby? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darby and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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