Dearl
Feminine variant of the masculine name Earl, meaning "prosperous guard".
Name Census estimates that about 415 living Americans carry the first name Dearl. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dearl today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dearl births was 1933 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dearl. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Dearl is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Dearls were born before 1968.
People living today
415
~ 1 in 825,914 Americans
Peak year
1933
24 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,378
Tracked since 1917
Census
Dearl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 389 people with the first name Dearl, which placed it at #24,672 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
#24,672
National first-name rank
People counted
389
389 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dearl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dearl is White at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Dearl 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 Dearl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.2% · 312
- Black or African American13.4% · 52
- Two or more races4.4% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Dearl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dearl from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 176 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
Dearl 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 Dearl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dearls live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dearl
The name Dearl is a unique and relatively uncommon given name with an intriguing history. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English language, where it was derived from the combination of two words: "deor" meaning "dear" or "beloved," and "ael" meaning "noble" or "excellent." This suggests that the name Dearl may have initially been used to describe someone who was considered both beloved and noble in character.
In the early medieval period, the name Dearl was predominantly used in regions of England inhabited by Anglo-Saxon communities. While it was not a widespread name, it did appear in some historical records and documents from the time, though these references are relatively scarce.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dearl can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is listed as a tenant farmer in the county of Wiltshire, indicating its use as a personal name during the late 11th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Dearl remained relatively obscure, though it continued to be used sporadically within certain English communities. One notable individual bearing this name was Dearl of Huntingdon, a 12th-century monk and chronicler known for his work "Historia Anglorum," a historical account of England from the time of the Roman conquest to the reign of King Stephen.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Dearl Bainbridge made a mark in history as a prominent English navigator and explorer. Bainbridge, who was born in 1568, was part of several expeditions to the Americas and is credited with mapping and charting significant portions of the eastern coast of North America.
Another individual of note was Dearl Witherspoon, a Scottish philosopher and minister who lived in the 18th century. Born in 1723, Witherspoon was a influential figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and later became one of the founding fathers of Princeton University in the United States.
Moving into the 19th century, Dearl Tennyson, the younger brother of the renowned poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, also bore this unusual name. Born in 1809, Dearl Tennyson was a respected scholar and clergyman in his own right, though he lived in the shadow of his more famous sibling.
While the name Dearl has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has continued to be used by a small number of individuals in various parts of the world. Its unique blend of Old English roots and meaning has likely contributed to its enduring, albeit niche, appeal as a given name.
People
Dearl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dearl 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
Dearl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dearl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 415 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dearl 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 825,914 US residents.
Is Dearl a common name?
We classify Dearl as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 792 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dearl most popular?
The single biggest year for Dearl was 1933, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dearl is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dearl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 389 people with the name Dearl, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,672 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 Dearl 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 Dearl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dearl leans strongly male. 375 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 12 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Dearl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dearl is White at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Dearl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dearl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.2% (312 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 Dearl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dearl a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dearl 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 Dearl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dearl 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 Dearl 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 share the name Dearl?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.