Darryll
A masculine name of Celtic origin referring to a place of oak trees.
Name Census estimates that about 1,153 living Americans carry the first name Darryll. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darryll today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darryll births was 1960 (63 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darryll. 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 Darryll with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,272 Americans
Peak year
1960
63 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,620
Tracked since 1936
Census
Darryll in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 942 people with the first name Darryll, which placed it at #12,982 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
#12,982
National first-name rank
People counted
942
942 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darryll
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darryll is White at 47.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.1%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Darryll 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 Darryll at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.5% · 447
- Black or African American42.1% · 397
- Two or more races4.5% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 12
Popularity
Darryll: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darryll from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 485 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darryll 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 Darryll during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darrylls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Darryll, while North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darryll
The name Darryll is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "deor" meaning "deer" and "hyll" meaning "hill." The earliest recorded use of this name dates back to the 12th century, where it was commonly used as a surname among English families residing in rural areas.
In the late 16th century, the name Darryll began to transition from a surname to a given name, particularly among the English gentry and nobility. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Darryll was Sir Darryll Wentworth (1555-1622), a member of the English Parliament and a prominent landowner in Yorkshire.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Darryll gained popularity among the upper classes of English society. Notable figures from this period include Darryll Montagu (1673-1749), a British diplomat and politician, and Darryll Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher and historian.
In the 19th century, the name Darryll became more widespread across various social classes in England. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Darryll Dickens (1812-1870), the renowned English novelist and social critic, known for his iconic works such as "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities."
Another notable figure from this era was Darryll Stanley (1828-1903), a British explorer and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of African wildlife and geography.
As the British Empire expanded, the name Darryll also found its way into other parts of the world. One such individual was Darryll Kipling (1865-1936), an English writer and poet who spent a significant part of his life in India and wrote extensively about the country's culture and society.
Throughout the 20th century, the name Darryll continued to be used, although it became less common than in previous centuries. One notable figure was Darryll Cravath (1881-1954), an American professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Phillies and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
People
Darryll + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darryll 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
Darryll: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darryll?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,153 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darryll 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 297,272 US residents.
Is Darryll a common name?
We classify Darryll as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,366 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darryll most popular?
The single biggest year for Darryll was 1960, when 63 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darryll is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darryll in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 942 people with the name Darryll, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,982 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 Darryll 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 Darryll?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darryll leans strongly male. 920 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Darryll?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darryll is White at 47.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.1%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Darryll most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darryll in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.5% (447 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 Darryll in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darryll a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darryll 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 Darryll still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darryll 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 Darryll 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 Darryll?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.