Derrell
Masculine · “Norman French d'Airelle”
Derrell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 5,864 boys against 16 girls since 1880.
Darrell contains a French preposition. The name is from d'Airelle, of Airelle, a place in Calvados, and the apostrophe has fused into the word. English surnames are full of these fossilized particles: Danvers, Disney, Devereux, and from other languages Van Buren, Von Braun, Di Marco, O'Brien. A grammatical word has become a syllable.
How old is the name Derrell?
Derrell first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Derrell alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 4,600 people named Derrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Derrell most popular?
Derrell peaked in 1958, reaching #777 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,466 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From d'Airelle to Derrell
The story of Derrell
Fused prepositions are common in European surnames and each language handles them differently. French names contract de before a vowel and keep it separate before a consonant, giving d'Aubigny and de Montfort; English absorbed both, so Disney is d'Isigny and Danvers is d'Anvers, from Antwerp. Dutch keeps van as a separate word, German keeps von, Italian keeps di and da, Spanish and Portuguese keep de, and Irish keeps O and Mac. Whether the particle is written separately, capitalized or fused varies by country and by law: the Netherlands alphabetises by the main element and ignores van entirely, while American records treat it as part of the name. Darrell is at the far end of this process, having lost the apostrophe, the space and any trace of the place it referred to.
Meaningscholars disagree
Norman French d'Airelle, of Airelle
Darrell and its variants are usually derived from the Norman place name Airelle in Calvados, with the preposition de fused to the front. An alternative connects it to Old English deor, a deer or wild animal. The first is generally preferred. Derrell is a mid-century American spelling variant with an e for the first a; it peaks in 1958.
How the name formed
- d'Airelle
- Darrell
- Derrell
Related forms: Darrell · Daryl
Pronouncing Derrell
duh-REL
Two syllables, stress on the second. DER-ul with the stress at the front is also heard. Derrell, Darrell, Darryl and Daryl are all said the same way by most speakers.
Nicknames for Derrell
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
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 1988133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #777reached in 1958
- Change vs 2023
- −30.8%9 in 2025, from 13
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.
Derrell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Darrell in English — spelling variant
- Daryl in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Derrells among us
people named Derrell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Derrell
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 Ardell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Derrell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ardell climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ardell's path sketches the road Derrell is walking now.
Derrell 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
Derrell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Derrell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Norman etymology is documented and reaches back to a specific place.
- The doubled consonants make the vowels unambiguous.
- Rell works as a short form.
- At least five spellings of the same sound are in use.
- Darrell is the most common of them.
- The name is strongly associated with the mid twentieth century.
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Derrell
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Derrells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,600 people named Derrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Derrell in 2025?
- Derrell ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Derrell?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Derrell — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Derrell with classmates?
- Derrell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Derrell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Derrell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Derrell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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