Darina
Feminine · “Slavic "gift”
Four language families independently made names meaning gift of God. Slavic Bogdan and Darina, Greek Theodore and Dorothy, Hebrew Nathaniel and Matthew, Arabic Atallah — the same idea reached for again and again, by people naming a child they did not expect.
How old is the name Darina?
Darina first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Darina alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 700 people named Darina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darina most popular?
Darina peaked in 2011, reaching #3173 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 4,712 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From dar to Darina
The story of Darina
Gift-of-God names are among the most widely paralleled in the world's naming systems, and the reason is not mysterious: a child was frequently understood as a gift, particularly a child long hoped for. Greek gave Theodore and its reversal Dorothea, the same two words in opposite order. Hebrew gave Nathaniel, Jonathan and Matthew, all built on roots meaning to give with the divine element attached. Slavic built Bogdan directly and Darina from the gift word alone. Arabic has Atallah and Hibatullah. The pattern is convergent rather than borrowed, which is what makes it worth noticing. Darina peaks in America in 2011.
Meaningscholars disagree
Slavic "gift"
From Slavic dar, a gift — the element behind Bogdan, God-given, and Darina, Darya and Dara. The word is cognate with Latin donum and Greek doron, both gifts, from an Indo-European root meaning to give. An unrelated Irish name Dáirine and a Persian Darina also exist, and the record does not always distinguish them.
How the name formed
- dar
- Darina
Related forms: Darina · Дарина · Darya
Pronouncing Darina
dah-REE-nah
Three syllables, stress on the second. Slovak and Czech stress the first syllable as a fixed rule, DAH-ree-nah, so the same name is weighted differently there.
Nicknames for Darina
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 girls named
- 201152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3173reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- +44.4%13 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.
Darina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darina in Slovak — same name
- Дарина in Bulgarian — transliteration
- Darya in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Washington, New York.
Darinas among us
people named Darina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Darina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Darina
- #7885
- Darina on the 2025 chart
- #935
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Darina went to 13 girls in 2025, but Daryna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 25, which makes it the 935th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,950 places above the chart.
- Darina13
- Daryna12
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 123,636 for Darina 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 Trinh test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Trinh climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Trinh's path sketches the road Darina is walking now.
Darina 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
Darina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, short and generous.
- Dara and Rina are ready short forms that stand alone.
- It is soft, three syllables and easy to say.
- Slavic and English speakers stress it differently.
- Several unrelated origins share the spelling.
- It is rare in the United States and will need spelling out.
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What they receive
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Darina
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Darina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Darina?
- Darina is the most-used spelling in US records — 13 of the 25 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Daryna.
- How popular is the name Darina in 2025?
- Darina ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darina?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Darina — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darina with classmates?
- Darina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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