Durbin
Of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a town name.
Name Census estimates that about 3 living Americans carry the first name Durbin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Durbin today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Durbin births was 1947 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Durbin. 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 Durbin is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Durbins were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Durbin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
3
~ 1 in 114,251,446 Americans
Peak year
1947
5 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1947 SSA rank
#3,883
Tracked since 1947
Census
Durbin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 127 people with the first name Durbin, which placed it at #49,170 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
#49,170
National first-name rank
People counted
127
127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Durbin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Durbin is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.1%) and Black (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 Durbin 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 Durbin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino18.1% · 23
- Black or African American5.5% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 4
- Two or more races3.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 2
Popularity
Durbin: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Durbin 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 Durbin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Durbin
The name Durbin is believed to have originated from the Old English word "dær" meaning "shelter" or "dwelling place" and "burna" meaning "stream" or "brook". This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a stream or a sheltered area near a water source.
In terms of historical references, the name Durbin can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive record of landowners and their properties commissioned by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England. The name appears in various spellings such as "Derbine" and "Derbyn" in this document, indicating its early use in medieval England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Durbin was Sir Robert Durbin, a prominent English landowner and knight who lived in the 13th century. He is mentioned in various historical records from that time period, particularly in relation to land disputes and legal matters.
Another notable figure bearing the name Durbin was John Durbin, an English philosopher and theologian who lived from 1626 to 1680. He was a scholar at the University of Cambridge and authored several works on religion and philosophy, including "A View of the Whole Controversy between the Representer and the Answerer" and "The Theory of the World".
In the 18th century, Evan Durbin was a Welsh Baptist minister and writer who lived from 1762 to 1824. He was known for his religious writings and sermons, as well as his involvement in the Baptist movement in Wales during that time period.
Moving forward to the 19th century, we find James Durbin, an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana from 1853 to 1855. He was also a lawyer and played a significant role in the local politics of his state.
Another notable figure with the name Durbin was the English novelist and playwright Eve Durbin, who lived from 1907 to 1983. She was a prolific writer, known for her novels such as "The Laughter Maker" and "The Twilight Years", as well as several plays and screenplays.
People
Durbin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Durbin 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
Durbin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Durbin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Durbin 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 114,251,446 US residents.
Is Durbin a common name?
We classify Durbin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Durbin most popular?
The single biggest year for Durbin was 1947, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Durbin is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Durbin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 127 people with the name Durbin, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,170 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 Durbin 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 Durbin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Durbin on both sides of the split. Of the 130 people counted with this name, 98 were male (75.4%) and 32 were female (24.6%). 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 Durbin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Durbin is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.1%) and Black (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 Durbin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Durbin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (87 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 Durbin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Durbin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Durbin 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 Durbin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Durbin 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 Durbin 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 Durbin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.