Daryl
Feminine · “from Airelle”
Daryl is given to both — 4,419 girls and 63,058 boys since 1880. See Daryl as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Darrell came from a place in Normandy called Airelle, and the name is a French preposition welded to a village: d'Airelle, of Airelle. The family carried it to England after the conquest and it became an English surname. Daryl is the spelling that crossed to girls, which the doubled-r versions largely did not.
How old is the name Daryl?
Daryl first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Daryl alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 3,500 people named Daryl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Daryl most popular?
Daryl peaked in 1950, reaching #664 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Airelle to Daryl
The story of Daryl
Norman families are all over the English surname stock, and the ones formed from de plus a place name are the easiest to spot once the preposition has fused: Darrell, Devereux, Danvers, Disney. Darrell became an American given name for boys in the twentieth century and produced a spread of spellings — Darrell, Darrel, Darryl, Daryl. The single-r versions then drifted toward women without anyone deciding it, which is the ordinary fate of a men's name that becomes popular enough to be borrowed.
Meaning
from Airelle
The Norman family de Airelle took their name from a place in Calvados, and English wore the phrase down to Darrell. The place name itself is generally connected to a French word for a bilberry or whortleberry, which grew there. The derivation is documented. A surname records where a family came from rather than describing anyone, so the berries belong to a hillside in Normandy and not to anybody carrying the name.
How the name formed
- Airelle
- de Airelle
- Darrell
- Daryl
Related forms: Airelle
Pronouncing Daryl
DAIR-ul
DAIR-ul, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. Some say duh-RELL with the weight at the back, following the French original more closely, and both are heard in American use.
Nicknames for Daryl
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 1950165 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #664reached in 1950
- Change vs 2013
- +80.0%9 in 2017, 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.
Daryl in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Airelle in French — related form
Daryls among us
people named Daryl 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
Daryl 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
- There is a documented Norman family and a real French place behind it.
- Dar and Rell are both usable short forms in different registers.
- It works for either child, which the doubled-r spellings do less readily.
- Darrell, Darryl and Darrel are all in use and none is standard, so the spelling is dictated.
- The stress falls at either end depending on the speaker.
- It is closely tied to the middle of the last century and dates a person fairly precisely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Daryl 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 Daryl? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Daryl
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Daryls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Daryl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Daryl in 2025?
- Daryl is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Daryl with classmates?
- Daryl will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Daryl? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Daryl 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