Durrell
A variant of the surname meaning "fallow, untilled ground" or "meadows".
Name Census estimates that about 1,700 living Americans carry the first name Durrell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Durrell today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Durrell births was 1985 (149 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Durrell. 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 Durrell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,620 Americans
Peak year
1985
149 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,201
Tracked since 1914
Census
Durrell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,288 people with the first name Durrell, which placed it at #10,389 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
#10,389
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,288 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Durrell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Durrell is Black at 76.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Durrell 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 Durrell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.3% · 983
- White15.5% · 200
- Two or more races4.8% · 62
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Popularity
Durrell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Durrell 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 650 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
Durrell 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 Durrell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Durrells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Durrell, while Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Durrell
The name Durrell is believed to have originated from the Old French word "durail," which means "small house" or "hut." This name can be traced back to the 12th century in the regions of northern France and southern England. It is thought to have evolved from the Latin word "durus," meaning "hard" or "enduring."
In medieval times, the name Durrell was often used as a surname to identify people who lived in small, sturdy dwellings or those who worked as builders or masons. The earliest recorded use of the name Durrell as a first name dates back to the 13th century, when it was given to a son of a French nobleman.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Durrell was Durrell de Moncy, a French knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War during the 14th century. Another notable figure was Durrell de Verneuil, a 15th century French poet and playwright who wrote several works satirizing the nobility.
In the 16th century, Durrell Browne was an English merchant and explorer who traveled to the Americas and documented his experiences in a book titled "A New World Discovered." During the same period, Durrell Cromwell was a soldier and cousin of Oliver Cromwell, the famous English military and political leader.
In more recent history, Durrell Gerald, an English author and naturalist, was born in 1912 and is best known for his books on wildlife and conservation, particularly his work on the island of Mauritius. His brother, Lawrence Durrell, was also a celebrated novelist and poet, born in 1912 and known for works such as "The Alexandria Quartet."
Another notable individual with the name Durrell was Durrell Bishop, an American jazz musician and composer who lived from 1919 to 1994. He was a prominent figure in the West Coast jazz scene and collaborated with artists like Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan.
People
Durrell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Durrell 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
Durrell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Durrell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,700 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Durrell 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 201,620 US residents.
Is Durrell a common name?
We classify Durrell as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,905 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Durrell most popular?
The single biggest year for Durrell was 1985, when 149 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Durrell is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Durrell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,288 people with the name Durrell, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,389 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 Durrell 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 Durrell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Durrell leans strongly male. 1,272 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 21 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Durrell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Durrell is Black at 76.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Durrell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Durrell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.3% (983 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 Durrell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Durrell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Durrell 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 Durrell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Durrell 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 Durrell 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 Durrell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.