Humanverse

Derek vs Derreck

American parents have registered 239,969 Dereks since 1880, against 1,374 Derrecks. Derek is still ahead, with 1,191 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Derek against Derreck, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Derek Derreck

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

Derek has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1924 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2021, when Derek had 1,095 and Derreck had 12.

Side by side

  Derek Derreck
Total US births 239,9691,374
Most in one year 8,40249
Babies in 2025 1,191under 5
Estimated living today 224,0001,300
Median age today 3737
Peak year 19891990
Best rank 54th boys1,662nd boys
Rank in 2025 284thunranked
First recorded 19241955
Girls / boys 909 / 239,0600 / 1,374

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.

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