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Darrell vs Darrol

American parents have registered 160,952 Darrells since 1880, against 654 Darrols. Darrell is still ahead, with 97 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Darrell against Darrol, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Darrell Darrol

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Darrell has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1886 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1918, when Darrell had 250 and Darrol had 6.

Side by side

  Darrell Darrol
Total US births 160,952654
Most in one year 4,79725
Babies in 2025 97under 5
Estimated living today 113,000360
Median age today 5966
Peak year 19581947
Best rank 90th boys1,482nd boys
Rank in 2025 1,688thunranked
First recorded 18861918
Girls / boys 1,186 / 159,7660 / 654

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Darrols alive today are over 66; half the Darrells are over 59. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Darrell and Darrol.