Darrol vs Daryl
American parents have registered 67,477 Daryls since 1880, against 654 Darrols. Daryl is still ahead, with 113 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Darrol Daryl
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
Daryl has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1912 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1918, when Darrol had 6 and Daryl had 35.
Side by side
| Darrol | Daryl | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 654 | 67,477 |
| Most in one year | 25 | 1,968 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 113 |
| Estimated living today | 360 | 52,000 |
| Median age today | 66 | 57 |
| Peak year | 1947 | 1956 |
| Best rank | 1,482nd boys | 165th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,529th |
| First recorded | 1918 | 1912 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 654 | 4,419 / 63,058 |
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 Daryls are over 57. That is 9 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: Darrol and Daryl.