Meaning not yet researched.
Darnell: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 56 in 2025. Its best rank was #281 in 1984.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #281 in 1984; #2,423 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Darnell in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#2,423 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1984, at #281.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Darnell: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 56 boys in 2025. Peak: #281 in 1984 · most boys in one year: 741 (1984).
In 2025, 56 US boys were named Darnell, making it the 2,423rd most common boys’ name of the year, down 155 places from #2,268 in 2024. That is 7 fewer than the 63 boys named Darnell in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #281, reached in 1984. That year also had the most boys given the name: 741. For comparison, it was #1,224 in 2015 and #504 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Darnell in 113 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1912 with 9 babies. In all, 31,018 US babies have been given the name, 7.7% of them girls and 92% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1980s, with 6,500 babies named Darnell.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 1,058 US boys were named Darnell; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 151. In 2025 that was about 1 in 30,501 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Darnell ranked highest in New Jersey in 2025, at #1,061 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Rarer spellings such as Darnel, Darnelle and Darrnell are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
No related spellings pass our data threshold.
Rare spellings summarised here: Darnel (1,052), Darnelle (616), Darrnell (78), Darneil (18).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Darnell in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 48 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 5 | #1,061 | — |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,317 | #800 |
| Texas | 6 | #2,341 | #1,797 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 56 | #2,423 |
| 2024 | — | — | 63 | #2,268 |
| 2023 | — | — | 85 | #1,869 |
| 2022 | — | — | 95 | #1,756 |
| 2021 | — | — | 102 | #1,636 |
| 2020 | — | — | 99 | #1,623 |
| 2019 | — | — | 128 | #1,389 |
| 2018 | — | — | 129 | #1,366 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,481 | 150 | #1,224 |
| 2016 | — | — | 151 | #1,237 |
| 2015 | — | — | 150 | #1,224 |
| 2014 | — | — | 197 | #1,030 |
| 2013 | — | — | 191 | #1,023 |
| 2012 | — | — | 203 | #984 |
| 2011 | 5 | #17,439 | 238 | #878 |
| 2010 | — | — | 235 | #887 |
| 2009 | — | — | 284 | #791 |
| 2008 | — | — | 313 | #732 |
| 2007 | — | — | 325 | #713 |
| 2006 | — | — | 305 | #712 |
| 2005 | — | — | 289 | #707 |
| 2004 | — | — | 271 | #709 |
| 2003 | — | — | 291 | #672 |
| 2002 | — | — | 262 | #694 |
| 2001 | — | — | 264 | #683 |
| 2000 | — | — | 274 | #659 |
| 1999 | 5 | #14,976 | 313 | #600 |
| 1998 | — | — | 354 | #555 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,133 | 354 | #552 |
| 1996 | — | — | 412 | #506 |
| 1995 | — | — | 395 | #515 |
| 1994 | 13 | #6,770 | 469 | #466 |
| 1993 | 5 | #14,006 | 443 | #477 |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,641 | 532 | #419 |
| 1991 | 8 | #9,549 | 564 | #404 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,027 | 678 | #354 |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,241 | 656 | #350 |
| 1988 | 16 | #5,106 | 652 | #330 |
| 1987 | 21 | #4,015 | 688 | #309 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,386 | 692 | #297 |
| 1985 | 17 | #4,500 | 674 | #305 |
| 1984 | 29 | #3,001 | 741 | #281 |
| 1983 | 23 | #3,453 | 644 | #306 |
| 1982 | 23 | #3,545 | 539 | #344 |
| 1981 | 25 | #3,358 | 492 | #358 |
| 1980 | 21 | #3,742 | 516 | #351 |
| 1979 | 23 | #3,464 | 495 | #355 |
| 1978 | 25 | #3,121 | 566 | #314 |
| 1977 | 33 | #2,565 | 518 | #346 |
| 1976 | 26 | #2,881 | 473 | #352 |
| 1975 | 34 | #2,368 | 456 | #361 |
| 1974 | 29 | #2,564 | 428 | #368 |
| 1973 | 32 | #2,362 | 468 | #357 |
| 1972 | 34 | #2,236 | 468 | #359 |
| 1971 | 52 | #1,735 | 473 | #369 |
| 1970 | 56 | #1,658 | 483 | #371 |
| 1969 | 65 | #1,454 | 439 | #374 |
| 1968 | 52 | #1,596 | 385 | #398 |
| 1967 | 53 | #1,540 | 390 | #382 |
| 1966 | 63 | #1,386 | 353 | #400 |
| 1965 | 67 | #1,340 | 339 | #422 |
| 1964 | 60 | #1,463 | 385 | #410 |
| 1963 | 65 | #1,374 | 361 | #422 |
| 1962 | 54 | #1,529 | 354 | #425 |
| 1961 | 67 | #1,364 | 355 | #422 |
| 1960 | 54 | #1,506 | 328 | #445 |
| 1959 | 51 | #1,522 | 358 | #418 |
| 1958 | 65 | #1,311 | 392 | #394 |
| 1957 | 56 | #1,410 | 346 | #419 |
| 1956 | 55 | #1,413 | 307 | #433 |
| 1955 | 49 | #1,448 | 337 | #395 |
| 1954 | 55 | #1,350 | 291 | #420 |
| 1953 | 49 | #1,393 | 273 | #426 |
| 1952 | 67 | #1,159 | 274 | #418 |
| 1951 | 71 | #1,104 | 215 | #464 |
| 1950 | 70 | #1,104 | 176 | #504 |
| 1949 | 55 | #1,223 | 118 | #629 |
| 1948 | 68 | #1,073 | 109 | #649 |
| 1947 | 61 | #1,153 | 65 | #861 |
| 1946 | 35 | #1,484 | 74 | #774 |
| 1945 | 44 | #1,191 | 56 | #840 |
| 1944 | 36 | #1,342 | 52 | #880 |
| 1943 | 26 | #1,674 | 42 | #1,037 |
| 1942 | 27 | #1,599 | 36 | #1,143 |
| 1941 | 44 | #1,122 | 46 | #941 |
| 1940 | 21 | #1,752 | 35 | #1,111 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,143 | 42 | #980 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,772 | 35 | #1,098 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,893 | 35 | #1,100 |
| 1936 | 8 | #3,165 | 24 | #1,365 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,609 | 33 | #1,148 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,600 | 29 | #1,247 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,925 | 30 | #1,209 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,335 | 16 | #1,863 |
| 1931 | — | — | 28 | #1,311 |
| 1930 | — | — | 22 | #1,570 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,456 | 19 | #1,746 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,493 | 20 | #1,721 |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,408 | 18 | #1,888 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,638 | 23 | #1,576 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,984 | 19 | #1,819 |
| 1924 | 10 | #3,187 | 30 | #1,361 |
| 1923 | — | — | 15 | #2,145 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,570 | 25 | #1,516 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,290 | 15 | #2,172 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,688 | 13 | #2,358 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,975 | 11 | #2,540 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,994 | 10 | #2,733 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,744 | 9 | #2,782 |
| 1916 | — | — | 6 | #3,592 |
| 1915 | — | — | 13 | #2,094 |
| 1913 | — | — | 5 | #2,920 |
| 1912 | — | — | 9 | #1,774 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).