Darnelle
A feminine name derived from the Old French term for "little"
Name Census estimates that about 554 living Americans carry the first name Darnelle. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Darnelle today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darnelle births was 1984 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darnelle. 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 Darnelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Darnelle was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
554
~ 1 in 618,690 Americans
Peak year
1984
28 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,753
Tracked since 1943
Census
Darnelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 613 people with the first name Darnelle, which placed it at #17,806 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
#17,806
National first-name rank
People counted
613
613 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
62.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darnelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darnelle is Black at 62.8%. The next largest groups are White (21.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Darnelle 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 Darnelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.8% · 385
- White21.5% · 132
- Two or more races5.2% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Darnelle
Darnelle is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 611 total registrations, 362 (59.2%) were male and 249 (40.8%) were female.
Darnelle as a male name
- Ranked #12,753 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1984 (20 births)
Darnelle as a female name
- Ranked #14,276 in 1997
- 5 female births in 1997
- Peak: 1969 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darnelle on both sides of the split. Of the 610 people counted with this name, 281 were male (46.1%) and 329 were female (53.9%).
Popularity
Darnelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darnelle from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 197 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
Darnelle 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 Darnelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darnelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Darnelle
The name Darnelle is believed to have originated from the French language, specifically the word "darnelle" which means "darnel" or "ray grass." This type of grass was once a common weed found in wheat fields across parts of Europe, particularly in France and surrounding regions.
In the Middle Ages, during the 12th to 15th centuries, the name may have initially been used as a surname or descriptive name for families involved in agriculture or those living in rural areas where darnel grass was prevalent. Over time, it transitioned into a given name, likely first used for baby girls born into these farming communities.
While no definitive historical references to the name Darnelle have been found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some of the earliest recorded examples trace back to 16th century France. One notable individual was Darnelle Beaumont, a seamstress born in 1562 in the village of Charenton-le-Pont, just outside of Paris.
In the 17th century, Darnelle Lefebvre (1613-1675) was a renowned French painter known for her still life works featuring fruits and flowers. Her pieces can be found in museums across Europe.
Jumping ahead to the 19th century, Darnelle Gauthier (1832-1901) was a Canadian author and poet from Quebec who wrote extensively about rural life and the natural beauty of the region.
In more recent history, Darnelle Mason (1923-2008) was an American dancer and choreographer who performed with several prestigious ballet companies in the mid-20th century.
Finally, Darnelle O'Brien (1944-2014) was an Australian politician who served multiple terms in the Parliament of New South Wales, representing the Labor Party from 1986 to 2011.
People
Darnelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darnelle 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
Darnelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darnelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 554 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darnelle 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 618,690 US residents.
Is Darnelle a common name?
We classify Darnelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 611 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darnelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Darnelle was 1984, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darnelle is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darnelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 613 people with the name Darnelle, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,806 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 Darnelle 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 Darnelle?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Darnelle on both sides of the split. Of the 610 people counted with this name, 281 were male (46.1%) and 329 were female (53.9%). 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 Darnelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darnelle is Black at 62.8%. The next largest groups are White (21.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Darnelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Darnelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.8% (385 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 Darnelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darnelle a male name?
Yes, 59.2% of people registered as Darnelle 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 Darnelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darnelle 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 Darnelle 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 called Darnelle?
See how many people have the name Darnelle on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.