Derell
An anglicized spelling of the Irish masculine name Darryl.
Name Census estimates that about 699 living Americans carry the first name Derell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Derell today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Derell births was 1986 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Derell. 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
699
~ 1 in 490,350 Americans
Peak year
1986
34 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,724
Tracked since 1945
Census
Derell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 564 people with the first name Derell, which placed it at #18,965 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
#18,965
National first-name rank
People counted
564
564 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Derell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Derell is Black at 79.4%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Derell 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 Derell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.4% · 448
- White8.3% · 47
- Two or more races5.5% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Derell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Derell from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 225 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Derell 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 Derell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Derells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Derell
The name Derell is a relatively modern variation of the name Dorell, which originated in the late 19th century. It is derived from the Old French name Dorel, a diminutive form of the Latin name Dorius. The meaning of Dorius is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin word "dorium," meaning "gift."
While the name Derell itself does not have a long historical tradition, its root name Dorell can be traced back to the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dorell is in the Domesday Book, a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a landowner named Dorell in Gloucestershire.
Another early reference to the name Dorell is found in the 13th-century literary work "Roman de la Rose," written by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. In this allegorical poem, one of the characters is named Dorell.
In terms of notable individuals bearing the name Derell, the earliest recorded person is Derell Ewing, an American basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1991 to 2001. He was born in 1968 and played for several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Another prominent figure with the name Derell is Derell Licht, an American football coach who has worked as a defensive coordinator for various college teams, including the University of Arizona and the University of Miami. He was born in 1971.
Derell McBath, born in 1988, is a former American football safety who played in the NFL for teams like the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers between 2009 and 2012.
Derell Mondesir, born in 1991, is a Haitian-American professional basketball player who has played in various leagues, including the NBA G League and international leagues in countries like France and Mexico.
Lastly, Derell Henderson, born in 1998, is an American football running back who currently plays for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL. He was drafted by the Rams in 2019 and has contributed to their recent success, including their Super Bowl LVI victory in 2022.
People
Derell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Derell 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
Derell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Derell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 699 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Derell 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 490,350 US residents.
Is Derell a common name?
We classify Derell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Derell most popular?
The single biggest year for Derell was 1986, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Derell is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Derell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 564 people with the name Derell, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,965 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 Derell 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 Derell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Derell leans strongly male. 547 people counted with this name were male (96.5%), compared with 20 female bearers (3.5%). 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 Derell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Derell is Black at 79.4%. The next largest groups are White (8.3%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Derell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Derell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (448 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 Derell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Derell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Derell 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 Derell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Derell 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 Derell 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 are named Derell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.