Darcell
A feminine variant of the French name Darcy, meaning "dark or brown complexion".
Name Census estimates that about 586 living Americans carry the first name Darcell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Darcell today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darcell births was 1984 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darcell. 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.
People living today
586
~ 1 in 584,905 Americans
Peak year
1984
39 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2017 SSA rank
#10,479
Tracked since 1951
Census
Darcell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 610 people with the first name Darcell, which placed it at #17,861 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
#17,861
National first-name rank
People counted
610
610 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darcell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darcell is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.1%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Darcell 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 Darcell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.2% · 477
- White14.1% · 86
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 23
- Two or more races3.4% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Darcell
Darcell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 676 total registrations, 170 (25.1%) were male and 506 (74.9%) were female.
Darcell as a male name
- Ranked #12,702 in 2017
- 5 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1991 (14 births)
Darcell as a female name
- Ranked #10,479 in 1990
- 7 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1984 (32 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darcell on both sides of the split. Of the 607 people counted with this name, 191 were male (31.5%) and 416 were female (68.5%).
Popularity
Darcell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darcell from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 204 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darcell 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 Darcell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darcells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Darcell, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darcell
The name Darcell has its origins in the Old French language, derived from the words "d'Arcel," meaning "from Arcel." This name likely originated in the region of Arcel, a small village located in the northern part of France, during the Middle Ages.
In the early medieval period, surnames were often derived from the name of a person's place of origin or residence. Darcell may have been a surname that was later adopted as a given name, particularly among families with ties to the village of Arcel or the surrounding areas.
While there are no known historical references or records of the name Darcell appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 13th century in France.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Darcell was a French noble named Darcell de Boissy, who lived in the late 13th century and was a prominent figure in the court of King Philip IV of France.
Another notable person with the name Darcell was a French artist and painter named Darcell Dupont, who lived in the 16th century and was known for his intricate portraits and landscapes.
In the 17th century, a French explorer and cartographer named Darcell Levasseur was credited with charting some of the earliest maps of the Mississippi River and the surrounding regions in North America.
During the 18th century, a French playwright and author named Darcell Lacroix gained recognition for his satirical works and social commentaries on the French aristocracy.
In the 19th century, a French botanist named Darcell Émile Fournier made significant contributions to the study of plant taxonomy and was responsible for identifying and classifying numerous species found in the French countryside.
While the name Darcell has its roots in France, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and regions over the centuries, albeit with varying degrees of popularity.
People
Darcell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darcell 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
Darcell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darcell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 586 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darcell 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 584,905 US residents.
Is Darcell a common name?
We classify Darcell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darcell most popular?
The single biggest year for Darcell was 1984, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darcell is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darcell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 610 people with the name Darcell, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,861 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 Darcell 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 Darcell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darcell on both sides of the split. Of the 607 people counted with this name, 191 were male (31.5%) and 416 were female (68.5%). 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 Darcell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darcell is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.1%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Darcell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darcell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (477 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 Darcell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darcell a female name?
Yes, 74.9% of people registered as Darcell 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 Darcell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darcell 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 Darcell 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 have Darcell as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Darcell, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.