Darlene
Masculine · “From darling”
Darlene is given to girls far more often — 204,942 girls against 604 boys since 1880. See Darlene as a girl 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 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Darlene alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 400 people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darlene most popular?
Darlene peaked in 1958, reaching #1446 nationally. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1927
- Most boys named
- 195829 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1446reached in 1958
- Change vs 1976
- +40.0%7 in 1989, from 5
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
Darlenes among us
people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Darlene sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
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
Masculine
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 400 people named Darlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darlene in 2025?
- Darlene is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Darlene with classmates?
- Darlene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darlene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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