Darrell
Masculine · “From Airelle”
Darrell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 159,766 boys against 1,186 girls since 1880. See Darrell as a girl name
Darrell has two doubled consonants and only one of them is doing anything. The rr keeps the first vowel short, which is a real job; the ll at the end guards nothing, because the vowel before it is already reduced to nothing and cannot be made shorter.
How old is the name Darrell?
Darrell first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Darrell alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 115,000 people named Darrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darrell most popular?
Darrell peaked in 1967, reaching #86 nationally. Today it ranks #1688, 1,602 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Darrell appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From d'Airelle to Darrell
The story of Darrell
One Darrell left England a ghost story that has outlasted his family. Wild Will Darrell of Littlecote in Wiltshire was the subject of a persistent local account, recorded within living memory of the events, in which a midwife was fetched blindfolded to a great house at night, delivered a child, and watched a man throw it on the fire; she cut a piece from the bed hangings and counted the stairs on the way out, and identified the house afterwards. There was a trial. Darrell was acquitted, under circumstances that were talked about, and died a few years later when his horse threw him at a spot still called Darrell's Stile. The house is real, the court records exist, and the story has been told for four hundred years.
Meaning
From Airelle
A Norman surname taken from a place in Calvados, with the French preposition fused onto the front, in the same way that Darcy and Devereux were formed. The place name's own meaning is not securely known. Nothing in the name describes a person; it records a journey somebody made once.
How the name formed
- d'Airelle
- Darell
- Darrell
Pronouncing Darrell
DARE-ul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second is reduced almost to nothing, which is why the record holds Darrell, Darryl, Daryl and Darrel and all four are said the same way.
Nicknames for Darrell
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 19594,647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #86reached in 1967
- Change vs 2022
- −23.6%97 in 2025, from 127
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.
Darrell in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Georgia.
Darrells among us
people named Darrell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,609 born in 2025 was named Darrell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Darrell
- #1688
- Darrell on the 2025 chart
- #683
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Darrell went to 97 boys in 2025, but Darell, 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 — 1,005 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 6,751 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,609 for Darrell 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 Arnold test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darrell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arnold climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arnold's path sketches the road Darrell is walking now.
Darrell 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 Darrell is headed
Darrell 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.
Darrell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darrell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spoken name is completely established and never needs repeating.
- Dare and Dell are two short forms with nothing in common.
- It has a real, locatable Norman history behind it.
- At least four spellings circulate together and this is one of them.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers as well.
- It is strongly dated to the middle of the last century in American ears.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Darrell 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 Darrell? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Darrell
Masculine · #1688 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darrells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 115,000 people named Darrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Darrell?
- Darrell is the most-used spelling in US records — 97 of the 253 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Darell, Darel and Darrel.
- How popular is the name Darrell in 2025?
- Darrell ranks #1688 among US boy names in 2025, with 97 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darrell?
- About 1 in every 17,609 US boys born in 2025 was named Darrell — 97 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darrell with classmates?
- Darrell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darrell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yaman#1688 · Ransom#1688 · Alister#1688 · Viggo#1688 · Raylen#1688 · Caelum#1688 · Meyer#1688 · Naim#1688
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darrell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darrell 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