Darvin
A Persian name meaning "pearl" or "of precious value".
Name Census estimates that about 2,660 living Americans carry the first name Darvin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darvin today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darvin births was 1963 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darvin. 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 Darvin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 128,855 Americans
Peak year
1963
72 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,906
Tracked since 1913
Census
Darvin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,613 people with the first name Darvin, which placed it at #6,197 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
#6,197
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,613 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darvin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darvin is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.7%) and Black (20.9%). 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 Darvin 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 Darvin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 1,115
- Hispanic or Latino29.7% · 776
- Black or African American20.9% · 547
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 76
- Two or more races2.0% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 46
Popularity
Darvin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darvin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 538 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
Darvin 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 Darvin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darvins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Darvin, while Oklahoma, Alabama, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darvin
The name Darvin is believed to have its origins in the Persian language, where it is derived from the word "darvan," which means "gatekeeper" or "doorkeeper." This name likely emerged during the ancient Persian era, which spanned from the 6th century BCE to the 7th century CE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Darvin can be found in the ancient Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh, written by the celebrated poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century CE. In this literary work, there is a character named Darvin who is described as a brave and skilled warrior.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Darvin. One such figure was Darvin al-Khatib (1030-1094), a renowned Persian scholar and writer who made significant contributions to the fields of literature and linguistics during the Seljuk Empire era.
Another prominent individual with the name Darvin was Darvin Khan (1542-1577), a powerful military leader and ruler of the Mughal Empire in India. He played a crucial role in the expansion and consolidation of Mughal power during the reign of Akbar the Great.
In the 19th century, Darvin Mikhailovich Stolypin (1818-1888) was a notable Russian statesman and politician who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs under Tsar Alexander II. He was instrumental in implementing various reforms and modernization efforts in the Russian Empire.
During the 20th century, Darvin Artur Chavushian (1902-1980) was a prominent Armenian composer and conductor who made significant contributions to the development of Armenian classical music. His compositions, including operas and symphonic works, are widely celebrated and performed to this day.
While the name Darvin has its roots in the Persian language and culture, it has been adopted and used by various ethnic groups and communities throughout history, spanning regions such as the Middle East, Central Asia, and even parts of Europe and Russia.
People
Darvin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darvin 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
Darvin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darvin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,660 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darvin 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 128,855 US residents.
Is Darvin a common name?
We classify Darvin as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,680 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darvin most popular?
The single biggest year for Darvin was 1963, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darvin is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darvin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,613 people with the name Darvin, or 0.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,197 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 Darvin 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 Darvin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darvin appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,615 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Darvin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darvin is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.7%) and Black (20.9%). 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 Darvin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darvin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (1,115 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 Darvin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darvin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darvin 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 Darvin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darvin 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 Darvin 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 Darvin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.