Darel
Masculine · “from Airelle”
Darel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,168 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Darel respells Darrell, and the Norman d'Airelle behind it names a place in Calvados.
How old is the name Darel?
Darel first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Darel alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 1,500 people named Darel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darel most popular?
Darel peaked in 1940, reaching #1031 nationally. Today it ranks #2539, 1,508 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Where it comes from
From d'Airelle to Darel
The story of Darel
Norman families were named for the places they came from, and d'Airelle became Darrell in England — one of a very large set of surnames that fossilize a French village. Darel is a modern American respelling and appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
from Airelle
Through Darrell, from the Norman d'Airelle, 'from Airelle', a place in Calvados. The surname came to England with the Conquest and became an American given name in the twentieth century. The Norman route is documented.
How the name formed
- d'Airelle
- Darrell
- Darel
Related forms: Darrell · Daryl
Pronouncing Darel
DAIR-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.
Nicknames for Darel
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 202552 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1031reached in 1940
- Change vs 2023
- +477.8%52 in 2025, from 9
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.
Darel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darrell in English — spelling variant
- Daryl in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Darels among us
people named Darel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 32,848 born in 2025 was named Darel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Darel
- #2539
- Darel on the 2025 chart
- #683
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Darel went to 52 boys in 2025, but Darrell, Darell and Darrel are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 253, which makes it the 683rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,856 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 6,751 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 32,848 for Darel itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Erskine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Erskine climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Erskine's path sketches the road Darel is walking now.
Darel 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 Darel is headed
Darel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Darel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That a Norman village is fossilized in the name is a genuinely good fact.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is compact against a long surname.
- Darrell and Daryl are both commoner spellings.
- It is period-coded to the mid-twentieth century.
- It will be respelled by other people constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Darel
Masculine · #2539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Darel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Darel?
- Darel is one of 4 recorded spellings. Darrell is the more common one — 97 births in 2025 against 52 for Darel.
- How popular is the name Darel in 2025?
- Darel ranks #2539 among US boy names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darel?
- About 1 in every 32,848 US boys born in 2025 was named Darel — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darel with classmates?
- Darel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yanis#2539 · Ebenezer#2539 · Mazen#2539 · Ziyad#2539 · Mercer#2539 · Ramy#2539 · Konnor#2539 · Luigi#2539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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