Darlene
Feminine · “From darling”
Darlene is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 204,942 girls against 604 boys since 1880. See Darlene as a boy name
Darlene takes the old word darling and gives it a name's ending, and it became one of the defining American girls' names of the mid-twentieth century. Its best-known bearer is a singer whose voice was on hit records that carried other people's names.
How old is the name Darlene?
Darlene first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Darlene alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 148,000 people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darlene most popular?
Darlene peaked in 1958, reaching #49 nationally. Today it ranks #1844, 1,795 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Darlene appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From deorling to Darlene
The story of Darlene
In 1962 the producer Phil Spector recorded 'He's a Rebel' with Darlene Love singing lead, but released it under the name of the Crystals, and it went to number one; she sang on many of his records, often uncredited. Years later, cleaning a house in Los Angeles, she heard her own 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' on the radio and decided to go back to singing; she performed it on David Letterman's show every December for nearly thirty years and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The spelling is recorded for a handful of boys, but it is a girl's name in every tradition behind it.
Meaning
From darling, with the -ene ending
Darling comes from Old English deorling, 'little dear'. Darlene reshapes it as a name.
How the name formed
- deorling
- darling
- Darlene
Related forms: Darleen · Darla
Pronouncing Darlene
dar-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Darlene
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 19588,278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #49reached in 1958
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%108 in 2025, from 108
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.
Darlene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darleen in English — spelling variant
- Darla in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Darlenes among us
people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,882 born in 2025 was named Darlene
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 Sylvia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darlene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sylvia climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sylvia's path sketches the road Darlene is walking now.
Darlene 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 Darlene is headed
Darlene should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Darlene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darlene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Instantly recognized and easy to spell.
- A warm meaning built on darling.
- A long American history.
- It is strongly represented among older generations and rare among babies today.
- Some will find the darling meaning too sweet.
- For a boy it would be very unusual.
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What they receive
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Darlene
Feminine · #1844 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darlenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 148,000 people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darlene in 2025?
- Darlene ranks #1844 among US girl names in 2025, with 108 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darlene?
- About 1 in every 14,882 US girls born in 2025 was named Darlene — 108 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darlene with classmates?
- Darlene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darlene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vivien#1844 · Leen#1844 · Rhaenyra#1844 · Ambar#1844 · Emberleigh#1844 · Francine#1844 · Elissa#1844 · Brenna#1844
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darlene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darlene and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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