Darwyn
From the Old English "deor" meaning "dear" and "wynn" meaning "joy".
Name Census estimates that about 516 living Americans carry the first name Darwyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Darwyn today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Darwyn births was 1935 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Darwyn. 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 Darwyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
516
~ 1 in 664,253 Americans
Peak year
1935
67 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,949
Tracked since 1923
Census
Darwyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 519 people with the first name Darwyn, which placed it at #20,044 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
#20,044
National first-name rank
People counted
519
519 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Darwyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darwyn is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.7%) and Hispanic (18.1%). 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 Darwyn 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 Darwyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.1% · 286
- Black or African American18.7% · 97
- Hispanic or Latino18.1% · 94
- Two or more races3.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 12
Popularity
Darwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Darwyn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 142 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Darwyn 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 Darwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Darwyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Darwyn, while Wisconsin, New York, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Darwyn
The name Darwyn is believed to have originated from the Old English language, likely during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century AD. It is derived from the elements "deor," meaning "deer," and "wine," meaning "friend." Therefore, the name can be interpreted to mean "friend of the deer" or "deer friend."
The name Darwyn was relatively rare in early historical records, but a few notable individuals bore this name. One of the earliest recorded instances was Darwyn of Mercia, a minor nobleman who lived in the 8th century during the reign of King Offa of Mercia. Records indicate that Darwyn held lands in what is now Warwickshire and played a role in local governance.
Another early bearer of the name was Darwyn the Scribe, a monk who lived in the 10th century at the monastery in Jarrow, Northumbria. He is known for his meticulous copying of religious texts and his skilled calligraphy.
In the 12th century, a knight named Darwyn de Hastings fought in the Crusades and is mentioned in the chronicles of the time for his bravery in battle. He accompanied King Richard I (the Lionheart) on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land.
During the Tudor period in England, a man named Darwyn Griffith (c. 1520-1590) was a prominent lawyer and served as a justice of the peace in Shropshire. He was known for his fair and impartial handling of legal matters.
In the 17th century, Darwyn Llewelyn (1602-1678) was a Welsh landowner and poet who wrote extensively in both Welsh and English. His works celebrated the beauty of the Welsh countryside and its rich cultural heritage.
While the name Darwyn has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these are just a few examples of individuals who bore this name and left their mark in various fields and time periods.
People
Darwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Darwyn 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
Darwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Darwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 516 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Darwyn 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 664,253 US residents.
Is Darwyn a common name?
We classify Darwyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 736 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Darwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Darwyn was 1935, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Darwyn is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Darwyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 519 people with the name Darwyn, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,044 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 Darwyn 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 Darwyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Darwyn leans strongly male. 489 people counted with this name were male (93.3%), compared with 35 female bearers (6.7%). 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 Darwyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Darwyn is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.7%) and Hispanic (18.1%). 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 Darwyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Darwyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.1% (286 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 Darwyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Darwyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Darwyn 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 Darwyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Darwyn 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 Darwyn 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 Darwyn?
See how many Americans are named Darwyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.