Darin
Masculine
Darin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 32,546 boys against 364 girls since 1880.
Darin is the tidiest spelling of a name that arrived in the twentieth century without an etymology and spread on sound alone. Four spellings competed and this one keeps the letters to a minimum.
How old is the name Darin?
Darin first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Darin alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 29,000 people named Darin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darin most popular?
Darin peaked in 1965, reaching #123 nationally. Today it ranks #3583, 3,460 places below that high. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Darin
Our story of Darin begins with a decade that liked its names new. A soft two-syllable shape with a light ending was exactly the fashion, and the sound arrived from several directions at once — a singer's chosen surname, a character on television, a spelling somebody liked the look of. It went onto certificates in four spellings, none of which had a meaning, and none of which needed one. What the name has instead is a very precise moment: it rises through the 1960s, peaks in the middle of them, and recedes.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No established origin. The suggestions in circulation — an Irish surname, a reshaping of Darrell, a borrowing from a stage name — are all reconstructions after the fact. The name appears in English-speaking records in the mid-twentieth century with nothing behind it, which is unusual but not unique.
Pronouncing Darin
DA-rin
Two syllables, stress on the first. All four spellings are said the same way in most accents.
Nicknames for Darin
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
- 1948
- Most boys named
- 19652,614 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #123reached in 1965
- Change vs 2023
- −16.2%31 in 2025, from 37
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.
Darin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darren in English — spelling variant
- Darrin in English — spelling variant
- Daren in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Darins among us
people named Darin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was named Darin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Darin
- #3583
- Darin on the 2025 chart
- #851
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Darin went to 31 boys in 2025, but Darrin, Darryn and Daryn are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 77, which makes it the 851st most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,732 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 22,183 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 55,099 for Darin 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 Abraham test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Abraham climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Abraham's path sketches the road Darin is walking now.
Darin 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 Darin is headed
Darin should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Darin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The shortest and cleanest of the four spellings, with nothing doubled.
- A soft, even shape that pairs well with almost any surname.
- No pronunciation ambiguity at all in English.
- It has no recovered meaning to offer.
- Four spellings were in simultaneous use, so it will be written wrongly often.
- The name is tightly dated to the 1960s and 1970s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Darin
Masculine · #3583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 29,000 people named Darin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Darin?
- Darin is one of 4 recorded spellings. Darrin is the more common one — 34 births in 2025 against 31 for Darin.
- How popular is the name Darin in 2025?
- Darin ranks #3583 among US boy names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darin?
- About 1 in every 55,099 US boys born in 2025 was named Darin — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darin with classmates?
- Darin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Geoffrey#3583 · Robinson#3583 · Kimani#3583 · Emre#3583 · Yoan#3583 · Anirudh#3583 · Sutter#3583 · Heber#3583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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