Darell
Masculine · “from Airelle”
Darell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 5,420 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Darell is Darrell with a letter dropped, and the Norman surname behind it is d'Airelle — from a place in Calvados named for a berry.
How old is the name Darell?
Darell first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Darell alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 4,400 people named Darell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darell most popular?
Darell peaked in 1948, reaching #813 nationally. Today it ranks #1826, 1,013 places below that high. See the whole 1948 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From d'Airelle to Darell
The story of Darell
The Darrell family came to England after the conquest and held lands in Kent and Wiltshire. The surname crossed into American given-name use in the twentieth century, rose sharply from the 1950s, and produced Darell, Darrel and Daryl as spellings. Darell appears in the registers and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Airelle
From the Norman d'Airelle, 'of Airelle', a place in Calvados whose own name may relate to the French airelle, a bilberry. A second route derives it from a Norman place called Airel. Neither is fully settled, but the Norman territorial origin is not disputed.
How the name formed
- d'Airelle
- Darrell
- Darell
Related forms: Darrell · Daryl · Airelle
Pronouncing Darell
duh-REL
Two syllables, stress on the second. Darell, Darrell and Daryl are said close to identically.
Nicknames for Darell
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 198695 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #813reached in 1948
- Change vs 2023
- +35.9%87 in 2025, from 64
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.
Darell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darrell in English — spelling variant
- Daryl in English — spelling variant
- Airelle in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, Florida.
Darells among us
people named Darell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 19,633 born in 2025 was named Darell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Darell
- #1826
- Darell on the 2025 chart
- #683
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Darell went to 87 boys in 2025, but Darrell, Darel 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 — 1,143 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 6,751 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 19,633 for Darell 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 Lavon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lavon climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lavon's path sketches the road Darell is walking now.
Darell 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 Darell is headed
Darell 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.
Darell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Norman family and a real Calvados village stand behind it.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- Dar and Rell are two short forms with real use.
- At least four spellings of the sound are in common use.
- Darrell is much the commoner spelling.
- It is period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Darell to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Darell? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Darell
Masculine · #1826 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Darell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Darell?
- Darell is one of 4 recorded spellings. Darrell is the more common one — 97 births in 2025 against 87 for Darell.
- How popular is the name Darell in 2025?
- Darell ranks #1826 among US boy names in 2025, with 87 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darell?
- About 1 in every 19,633 US boys born in 2025 was named Darell — 87 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darell with classmates?
- Darell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Radley#1826 · Jaysen#1826 · Vladimir#1826 · Charley#1826 · Azaire#1826 · Mylan#1826 · Oziah#1826 · Raghav#1826
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darell and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle