Deryl
A masculine given name of Scottish origin meaning "beloved follower".
Name Census estimates that about 1,334 living Americans carry the first name Deryl. It is a predominantly male name (90.6% of registrations). The average person named Deryl today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deryl births was 1957 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deryl. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 256,937 Americans
Peak year
1957
73 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2003 SSA rank
#5,412
Tracked since 1915
Census
Deryl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,414 people with the first name Deryl, which placed it at #9,716 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
#9,716
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deryl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deryl is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Deryl 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 Deryl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.1% · 949
- Black or African American25.3% · 358
- Two or more races3.7% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Deryl
Deryl leans heavily male at 90.6% of total registrations, but 190 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Deryl as a male name
- Ranked #8,896 in 2003
- 7 male births in 2003
- Peak: 1957 (56 births)
Deryl as a female name
- Ranked #5,412 in 1965
- 7 female births in 1965
- Peak: 1956 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deryl leans strongly male. 1,216 people counted with this name were male (85.6%), compared with 205 female bearers (14.4%).
Popularity
Deryl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deryl from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 598 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deryl 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 Deryl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Deryls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Deryl, while Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Deryl
The given name Deryl is a relatively modern and rare name, with its origins likely stemming from a combination of the English name Derek and the suffix "-yl". Derek is thought to be derived from the Germanic name Theodoric, which is composed of the elements "theud" meaning "people" and "ric" meaning "ruler" or "king". The suffix "-yl" is often used in modern names to give them a unique and distinctive sound.
While the name Deryl does not have a long or well-documented history, it appears to have emerged in the early 20th century, possibly as a creative variation or combination of existing names. It does not seem to have any direct ties to ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from earlier eras.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Deryl is Deryl Hart, an American baseball player who was born in 1921 and played for several teams in the Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1947 to 1956. Another notable individual with this name was Deryl Flemming, a Canadian radio and television personality, who was born in 1945 and worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for several decades.
Deryl Haynie, born in 1934, was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 1978 to 1984. Deryl Davis, born in 1945, is an American musician and member of the rock band The Knack, known for their hit song "My Sharona" in 1979.
Deryl Dodd, born in 1934, was a British actor and playwright, best known for his work in television and theater productions in the 1960s and 1970s.
While the name Deryl is not widely popular or commonly used, these individuals have helped to establish its presence and provide examples of its usage throughout the 20th century.
People
Deryl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deryl 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
Deryl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deryl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,334 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deryl 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 256,937 US residents.
Is Deryl a common name?
We classify Deryl as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,016 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deryl most popular?
The single biggest year for Deryl was 1957, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deryl is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deryl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,414 people with the name Deryl, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,716 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 Deryl 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 Deryl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Deryl leans strongly male. 1,216 people counted with this name were male (85.6%), compared with 205 female bearers (14.4%). 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 Deryl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deryl is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Deryl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deryl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (949 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 Deryl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deryl a male name?
Yes, 90.6% of people registered as Deryl 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 Deryl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deryl 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 Deryl 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 Americans are named Deryl?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.