Derrill
Masculine
Derrill is a respelling of a familiar American name, or possibly not one at all, and the record does not say. Its ending is a shape that turns up constantly in English surnames, usually with a landscape feature buried inside it.
How old is the name Derrill?
Derrill first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Derrill alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 400 people named Derrill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Derrill most popular?
Derrill peaked in 1945, reaching #1445 nationally. See the whole 1945 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Derrill
English surnames ending in -ill and -ell very often have a worn-down landscape word inside them. Hill is the commonest: Churchill, Underhill, Gribble and a hundred others carry it, sometimes hard to see after six centuries of pronunciation. Well is the next, from the Old English for a spring rather than a dug shaft, and it closes Bracewell, Cromwell and Blackwell. Both elements shrank because they were unstressed, and an unstressed syllable in English is where letters go to die. That is the general rule behind this whole family of spellings, and it is why so many of them can be written -al, -el, -ell or -ill with nobody able to hear the difference.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Darrell is the likeliest parent and its own history runs back to a Norman place name. Whether this spelling descends from it or was assembled from the same sounds is not recorded, and no reason for the altered vowel has been given.
Pronouncing Derrill
DAIR-ul
Two syllables with the stress in front. duh-RILL, with the weight on the second, is also heard from readers meeting it cold.
Nicknames for Derrill
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 boys named
- 194221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1445reached in 1945
- Change vs 1990
- +20.0%6 in 1992, 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.
Derrills among us
people named Derrill 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
Derrill 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
- The sound is thoroughly familiar, so it is rarely a puzzle to say.
- Derry and Del are both available as short forms without any work.
- It is spelled out in full, which means the syllables are unambiguous even if the stress is not.
- Darrell, Daryl and Derrell are all commoner, so this spelling will be corrected regularly.
- Two stress patterns are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Derrill
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Derrills 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 Derrill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Derrill in 2025?
- Derrill is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Derrill with classmates?
- Derrill 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 Derrill? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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