Darrow
Masculine
Darrow is an English and Scottish surname of disputed origin, and it is best known in America through a defense lawyer whose courtroom career made the name familiar for a century.
How old is the name Darrow?
Darrow first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Darrow alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 600 people named Darrow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Darrow most popular?
Darrow peaked in 1952, reaching #1615 nationally. Today it ranks #3513, 1,898 places below that high. See the whole 1952 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Darrow
Ours, offered as ours. Darrow is one of those surnames that has more explanations than evidence — a Gaelic oak, an English row of houses, a worn-down place name. What it plainly has is a shape English likes: two syllables, a rolled center, and an open ending that few English surnames offer. That is enough to explain its move into given names without needing an etymology, and the honest position is to say which part of the story is documented and which is not.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No settled derivation. Readings offered include an English place name of the -row type, a Scottish form of Darroch from a Gaelic word for an oak, and a variant of Darrah. None is established for the surname as a whole.
Pronouncing Darrow
DAIR-oh
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Darrow
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
- 1923
- Most boys named
- 202532 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1615reached in 1952
- Change vs 2023
- +77.8%32 in 2025, from 18
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.
Darrow in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darroch in Scottish — related form
- Darragh in Irish — related form
Darrows among us
people named Darrow are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 53,377 born in 2025 was named Darrow
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 Armen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Darrow's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Armen climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Armen's path sketches the road Darrow is walking now.
Darrow 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 Darrow is headed
Darrow looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 38% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Darrow beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Darrow in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It fits the current group of -ow surname names without being one of the crowded ones.
- Genuine mid-century American use behind it.
- The lawyer is the first association for older and educated Americans.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- There is no documented meaning, and the ones offered are all guesses.
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What they receive
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Darrow
Masculine · #3513 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Darrows are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Darrow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Darrow in 2025?
- Darrow ranks #3513 among US boy names in 2025, with 32 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Darrow?
- About 1 in every 53,377 US boys born in 2025 was named Darrow — 32 in all.
- Will my child share the name Darrow with classmates?
- Darrow will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Darrow
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bradford#3513 · Denton#3513 · Harden#3513 · Geronimo#3513 · Breon#3513 · Hashem#3513 · Jamere#3513 · Leslie#3513
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Darrow? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Darrow and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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