Derrick
A masculine name derived from a surname meaning "ruler of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 136,483 living Americans carry the first name Derrick. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Derrick today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Derrick births was 1980 (4,171 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Derrick. 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 Derrick with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Derrick is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 997 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
136K
~ 1 in 2,511 Americans
Peak year
1980
4,171 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#818
Tracked since 1917
Census
Derrick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 110,566 people with the first name Derrick, which placed it at #509 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
#509
National first-name rank
People counted
111K
110,566 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Derrick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Derrick is Black at 54.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.5%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Derrick 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 Derrick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.6% · 60,416
- White31.5% · 34,872
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 6,345
- Two or more races4.2% · 4,656
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 3,003
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 1,274
Gender
Gender distribution for Derrick
Out of the 146,052 babies given the name Derrick since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Derrick as a male name
- Ranked #818 in 2024
- 305 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (4,135 births)
Derrick as a female name
- Ranked #13,377 in 2005
- 7 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1974 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Derrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 110,568 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Derrick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Derrick from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 36,674 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
Derrick 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 Derrick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Derricks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Derrick, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,806 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Derrick
The name Derrick has its origins in the Old German language, where it was derived from the word "Theodoric," which itself is composed of two roots - "theud" meaning "people" and "ric" meaning "ruler." This name was popular among the Germanic tribes during the Middle Ages and was often associated with nobility and leadership.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Derrick can be found in the historical figure Theodoric the Great, who was the king of the Ostrogoths and ruled over a significant portion of the Roman Empire from 475 to 526 AD. His reign was marked by relative peace and prosperity, and he is remembered for his efforts to reconcile the Gothic and Roman cultures.
In the 12th century, the name Derrick appeared in the form of "Theodericus" in the writings of the English historian William of Malmesbury. This spelling variation highlights the evolution of the name over time as it was adapted to different cultures and languages.
As the name spread across Europe, it took on various forms, such as "Diederik" in Dutch, "Diederich" in German, and "Diederik" in Scandinavian languages. One notable bearer of the name was the Dutch philosopher and mathematician Diederik Raven (1559-1638), who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and physics.
In England, the name Derrick gained popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Sir Derrick Molyneux (1599-1632), an English politician and courtier who served as a Member of Parliament and held various positions at the court of King Charles I.
Another prominent figure was Derrick Carleton (1610-1660), an English prelate who served as the Bishop of Chichester and was known for his support of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. He was a skilled orator and wrote several theological works.
In more recent times, the name Derrick has been associated with notable individuals such as Derrick Brooks (born 1973), an American football player who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014, and Derrick Rose (born 1988), an American professional basketball player who was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2011.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Derrick
People
Derrick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Derrick 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
Derrick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Derrick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 136,483 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Derrick 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 2,511 US residents.
Is Derrick a common name?
We classify Derrick as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 146,052 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Derrick most popular?
The single biggest year for Derrick was 1980, when 4,171 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Derrick is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Derrick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 110,566 people with the name Derrick, or 36.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #509 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 Derrick 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 Derrick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Derrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 110,568 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Derrick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Derrick is Black at 54.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.5%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Derrick most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Derrick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (60,416 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 Derrick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Derrick a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Derrick 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 Derrick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Derrick 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 Derrick 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 Derrick?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.