Find out how popular the last name Darby is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Darby.

Darby, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Darby surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Darby in America

Darby is the 1921st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Darby surname appeared 18,757 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Darby.

We can also compare 2010 data for Darby to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Darby

The surname "DARBY" originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period between the 5th and 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old English words "deor" meaning deer and "by" meaning a village or town, suggesting that the name likely referred to someone who lived in a deer-related settlement.

The name is found in its earliest forms in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners and tenants after the Norman Conquest. Entries such as "Derbi" and "Derberie" appear, referring to the town of Derby in Derbyshire. This implies that the surname may have initially been a locational name for someone from that area.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname was Robert de Dereby, mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1166. Another early record is that of Henry de Dereby, who was listed in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire in 1283.

The surname has seen various spellings throughout history, including Derbie, Derbey, Darbie, and Darbye, before settling on the modern form of Darby. These variations reflect the phonetic nature of the name and regional accents.

Noteworthy individuals with the surname Darby include John Darby (1800-1882), an influential evangelist and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement, and Abraham Darby I (1677-1717), an English ironmaster who pioneered the use of coke in the smelting of iron.

Other notable Darbys are Sir Ralph Darby (1725-1811), a British politician and landowner, and Emily Darby (1845-1931), an American philanthropist and founder of the Darby Free Library in Pennsylvania.

The surname Darby has also been associated with several place names in England, such as Darby Green in Surrey and Darby Dale in Derbyshire, further reinforcing its locational origins.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Darby

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Darby.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Darby was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Darby has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Darby was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Darby, please contact us.

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