Humanverse

Daryl vs Darylene

American parents have registered 67,477 Daryls since 1880, against 49 Darylenes. Daryl is still ahead, with 113 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Daryl against Darylene, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Daryl Darylene

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 1932, when Daryl had 165 and Darylene had 8.

Side by side

  Daryl Darylene
Total US births 67,47749
Most in one year 1,9688
Babies in 2025 113under 5
Estimated living today 52,00030
Median age today 5779
Peak year 19561932
Best rank 165th boys3,274th girls
Rank in 2025 1,529thunranked
First recorded 19121932
Girls / boys 4,419 / 63,05849 / 0

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 Darylenes alive today are over 79; half the Daryls are over 57. That is 22 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: Daryl and Darylene.