Darey
A Modern English male name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 689 living Americans carry the first name Darey. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darey today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darey births was 2009 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darey. 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
689
~ 1 in 497,466 Americans
Peak year
2009
117 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,276
Tracked since 2005
Census
Darey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 455 people with the first name Darey, which placed it at #22,044 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
#22,044
National first-name rank
People counted
455
455 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darey is Hispanic at 92.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.4%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Darey 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 Darey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.5% · 421
- White4.4% · 20
- Black or African American2.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 5
Popularity
Darey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darey from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 337 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Darey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darey 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 Darey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dareys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, Arizona recorded the most babies named Darey, while Nebraska, Illinois, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darey
The name Darey has its origins in the ancient Persian language, tracing back to the Achaemenid Empire of the 6th century BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Old Persian word "darya," meaning "sea" or "ocean." This connection suggests that the name may have been initially used to describe someone with a vast or deep character, likening them to the expansive waters.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Darey can be found in the Behistun Inscription, a multilingual inscription carved into a cliff face in present-day Iran. This inscription, created around 515 BCE, details the military campaigns and genealogy of King Darius the Great, whose name in Old Persian was Dārayavauš. While not an exact match, the similarity in spelling and pronunciation suggests a potential link between the ancient king's name and the modern Darey.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Darey. In the 12th century, Darey al-Din Mahmud was a renowned Persian scholar and philosopher, known for his contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics. Another prominent figure was Darey Khan, a 16th-century Mughal general and governor who played a significant role in the expansion of the Mughal Empire under Akbar the Great.
Moving forward in time, Darey Bathurst (1684-1775) was an English politician and Member of Parliament, known for his involvement in the South Sea Bubble financial scandal. In the realm of arts and literature, Darey Defoe (1660-1731) was a celebrated English writer, best known for his novels "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders."
More recently, Darey Cahill (1868-1942) was an Irish-American labor leader and politician, serving as the president of the New York State Federation of Labor and playing a pivotal role in the growth of the labor movement in the early 20th century.
While the name Darey may have evolved over time and across cultures, its origins can be traced back to the ancient Persian language, evoking a sense of depth and vastness. From scholars and military leaders to writers and politicians, individuals bearing this name have left their mark on various aspects of human history.
People
Darey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darey 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
Darey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 689 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darey 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 497,466 US residents.
Is Darey a common name?
We classify Darey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 695 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darey most popular?
The single biggest year for Darey was 2009, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darey is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 455 people with the name Darey, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,044 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 Darey 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 Darey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darey leans strongly male. 428 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 24 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Darey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darey is Hispanic at 92.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.4%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Darey most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Darey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.5% (421 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 Darey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darey a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darey in the SSA data are male. 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 Darey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darey 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 Darey 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 common is the name Darey?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Darey at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.