Darnita
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of "Darna" and a diminutive suffix.
Name Census estimates that about 228 living Americans carry the first name Darnita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Darnita today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darnita births was 1983 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darnita. 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
228
~ 1 in 1,503,309 Americans
Peak year
1983
13 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1992 SSA rank
#8,914
Tracked since 1956
Popularity
Darnita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darnita from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 77 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darnita 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 Darnita 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 Darnita
The name Darnita is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the early 20th century. It is thought to be a feminized form of the male name Darnell, which itself is an anglicized version of the French surname D'Arnaud or D'Arno. The French surname is derived from the Germanic name Arnwald, made up of the elements "arn" meaning eagle and "wald" meaning ruler.
While the name Darnita does not have any direct historical or religious references, its masculine counterpart Darnell has been recorded as early as the 12th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Darnell de Deyncourt, a Norman landowner in Yorkshire, England in the late 12th century.
The first recorded use of the name Darnita is relatively recent, with no known examples prior to the 20th century. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name was Darnita Brinson, an American gospel singer and vocalist who performed with the Mississippi Mass Choir in the 1980s and 1990s.
Another notable Darnita was Darnita Paynes, an American basketball player who played for the Detroit Shock in the WNBA from 2002 to 2004. She was born in 1977 and played college basketball at Louisiana Tech University.
Darnita Killian was an American character actress who appeared in various television shows and films throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including roles in "The Parkers" and "Desperate Housewives". She was born in 1959 and passed away in 2018.
Darnita Hughes is an American author and screenwriter, best known for her novel "Blissful Lies" and its subsequent film adaptation. She was born in 1972 and continues to write and work in the entertainment industry.
Darnita Jones was an American singer and songwriter who performed as a backup vocalist for various artists, including Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. She was born in 1959 and passed away in 2022.
People
Darnita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darnita 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
Darnita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darnita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darnita 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 1,503,309 US residents.
Is Darnita a common name?
We classify Darnita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darnita most popular?
The single biggest year for Darnita was 1983, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darnita is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Darnita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darnita 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.
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.