Humanverse

Dereck vs Derk

American parents have registered 8,296 Derecks since 1880, against 506 Derks. Dereck is still ahead, with 396 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Dereck against Derk, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Dereck Derk

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

Of the 77 years in which either name was published, Dereck for 76 years and Derk for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Dereck Derk
Total US births 8,296506
Most in one year 41327
Babies in 2025 396under 5
Estimated living today 7,900430
Median age today 2455
Peak year 20241967
Best rank 663rd boys1,476th boys
Rank in 2025 688thunranked
First recorded 19491950
Girls / boys 0 / 8,2960 / 506

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 Derks alive today are over 55; half the Derecks are over 24. That is 31 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: Dereck and Derk.