Durrell
Masculine · “from a Norman place name”
Most names in the record ending this way were assembled — a meaningless front, a borrowed ending, no family behind either. This one is different. Durrell is a genuine surname with a documented history, which makes it the rare member of that family with something real underneath.
How old is the name Durrell?
Durrell first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Durrell alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,700 people named Durrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Durrell most popular?
Durrell peaked in 1985, reaching #723 nationally. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From Durrell to Durrell
The story of Durrell
Two brothers with the surname wrote, and one of them put the other in a book. The younger wrote a memoir of a childhood on Corfu in which the elder — by then a serious novelist — appears as a pompous, perpetually exasperated young man pronouncing on literature while the family collapses around him. It sold enormously. The elder objected that it was a very cheap way to make a living and that none of it happened like that, and then wrote an introduction to a later edition anyway. Both books are still in print and the memoir has outsold the novels considerably.
Meaningscholars disagree
from a Norman place name
The surname is generally traced to a place in northern France, arriving in England after the Conquest. The identification is standard but not certain, and other derivations have been proposed.
How the name formed
- Durrell
- Durell
Pronouncing Durrell
duh-RELL
Two syllables with the weight at the back. The front is unstressed and reduces, which is why the vowel in it is spelled inconsistently.
Nicknames for Durrell
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 1986124 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #723reached in 1985
- Change vs 2022
- −20.0%8 in 2024, from 10
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.
Durrells among us
people named Durrell 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
Durrell 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
- It has a real surname behind it rather than an assembled one.
- The stress at the back gives it a decisive finish.
- The spelling follows the sound with nothing to explain.
- Durell with one r is equally recorded and the spelling gets queried.
- It is easily mistaken for one of the many built names of the same shape.
- It is closely tied to the decades of its American use.
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What they receive
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Durrell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Durrells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Durrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Durrell in 2025?
- Durrell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Durrell with classmates?
- Durrell 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 Durrell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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