Humanverse

Derrick vs Derrill

American parents have registered 146,344 Derricks since 1880, against 787 Derrills. Derrick is still ahead, with 288 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Derrick Derrill

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 111 years in which either name was published, Derrick for 85 years and Derrill for 26 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Derrick Derrill
Total US births 146,344787
Most in one year 4,17123
Babies in 2025 288under 5
Estimated living today 134,000400
Median age today 4163
Peak year 19801950
Best rank 74th boys1,538th boys
Rank in 2025 850thunranked
First recorded 19171915
Girls / boys 997 / 145,3470 / 787

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 Derrills alive today are over 63; half the Derricks are over 41. 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: Derrick and Derrill.