Darbie
A feminine variant of the name Deborah, meaning "bee" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 368 living Americans carry the first name Darbie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Darbie today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darbie births was 1995 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darbie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Darbie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
368
~ 1 in 931,398 Americans
Peak year
1995
23 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2017 SSA rank
#14,562
Tracked since 1956
Census
Darbie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 447 people with the first name Darbie, which placed it at #22,320 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#22,320
National first-name rank
People counted
447
447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darbie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darbie is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Black (4.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Darbie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Darbie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.1% · 376
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 25
- Black or African American4.5% · 20
- Two or more races3.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Popularity
Darbie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darbie from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 119 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darbie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Darbie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darbies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Darbie
The name Darbie is thought to have originated from the Old English word "deor," which means "deer." This name was likely given to children who were born in areas where deer were abundant, or perhaps to those who were seen as graceful and agile like a deer.
In the early medieval period, the name Darbie was most commonly found in the regions of what is now England and Scotland. It was often spelled as "Dearby" or "Derbey" in ancient records and texts.
One of the earliest known references to the name Darbie can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Derbei" and "Derbig," suggesting it was in use among the Saxon population at that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Darbie remained relatively uncommon, but a few notable individuals bore this name. One such person was Darbie of Huntingdon (c. 1135 – 1200), a renowned historian and author of the chronicle "Historia Anglorum" (History of the English).
In the 16th century, the name gained some popularity among the English gentry. One notable figure was Darbie Fitzwilliam (1508 – 1579), a prominent courtier and diplomat during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
During the 17th century, the name Darbie appeared in various literary works, including the plays of William Shakespeare. In "The Merry Wives of Windsor," one of the characters is named Darbie, suggesting the name was familiar to Elizabethan audiences.
Another notable bearer of the name was Darbie Croft (1623 – 1691), an English philosopher and author who wrote extensively on natural philosophy and metaphysics.
In the 18th century, the name Darbie was particularly popular among the Scottish aristocracy. One notable figure was Darbie Campbell (1717 – 1795), a Scottish nobleman and philanthropist who founded several charitable institutions in his home region.
As the centuries passed, the name Darbie became less common, but it continued to be used sporadically. One of the more recent individuals with this name was Darbie Sutherland (1892 – 1973), a British journalist and war correspondent who covered several major conflicts in the early 20th century.
People
Darbie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darbie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Darbie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darbie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darbie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 931,398 US residents.
Is Darbie a common name?
We classify Darbie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 397 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darbie most popular?
The single biggest year for Darbie was 1995, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darbie is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darbie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 447 people with the name Darbie, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,320 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Darbie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Darbie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darbie leans strongly female. 427 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 14 male bearers (3.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Darbie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darbie is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Black (4.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Darbie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darbie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (376 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Darbie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darbie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darbie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Darbie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darbie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Darbie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Darbie?
Want to know how many Americans are named Darbie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.