Darnae
Feminine name of unknown origin with debated meanings including "star of the morning".
Name Census estimates that about 47 living Americans carry the first name Darnae. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Darnae today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darnae births was 1993 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darnae. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Darnae. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
47
~ 1 in 7,292,645 Americans
Peak year
1993
7 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2009 SSA rank
#15,713
Tracked since 1989
Census
Darnae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 106 people with the first name Darnae, which placed it at #52,574 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
#52,574
National first-name rank
People counted
106
106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darnae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darnae is Black at 83.0%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Darnae 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 Darnae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.0% · 88
- White10.4% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 2
- Two or more races1.9% · 2
Popularity
Darnae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darnae from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 22 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darnae 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 Darnae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darnae
The name Darnae is an anglicized form of the French name Darnay, which has its origins in the ancient Gaulish language spoken by the Celtic tribes of what is now modern-day France. The name is believed to be derived from the Gaulish word "darn," which means "oak" or "oak tree."
In ancient Celtic culture, the oak tree held great significance and was revered as a sacred symbol of strength, endurance, and longevity. Consequently, names derived from "darn" were often given to children as a way of bestowing upon them the virtues associated with the mighty oak.
The earliest recorded use of the name Darnae dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in various medieval French texts and records. One notable example is the character of Darnay in the novel "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, set during the French Revolution.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Darnae. In the 15th century, Darnae de Montmorency (1427-1516) was a French nobleman and military leader who played a prominent role in the Hundred Years' War. In the 17th century, Darnae Rousseau (1612-1678) was a French philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of geometry.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Darnae Aubert (1824-1892) was a French painter renowned for his landscape and portrait works, which were highly celebrated during his lifetime. In the early 20th century, Darnae Leclerc (1901-1975) was a renowned French architect who designed several iconic buildings in Paris and other cities across France.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Darnae in modern times was Darnae Senghor (1923-2001), a Senegalese poet, cultural theorist, and the first president of Senegal after the country gained independence from France in 1960. His literary works and philosophical writings on Negritude played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural and political landscape of post-colonial Africa.
People
Darnae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darnae 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
Darnae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darnae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 47 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darnae 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 7,292,645 US residents.
Is Darnae a common name?
We classify Darnae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darnae most popular?
The single biggest year for Darnae was 1993, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darnae is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darnae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 106 people with the name Darnae, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,574 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 Darnae 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 Darnae?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darnae on both sides of the split. Of the 107 people counted with this name, 22 were male (20.6%) and 85 were female (79.4%). 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 Darnae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darnae is Black at 83.0%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Darnae most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darnae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.0% (88 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 Darnae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darnae a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darnae 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 Darnae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darnae 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 Darnae 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 the name Darnae?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Darnae on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.