Meaning not yet researched.
Derek: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 1,191 in 2025. Its best rank was #50 in 1982.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #50 in 1982; #284 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Derek in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#284 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1982, at #50.
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.
Derek: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 1,191 boys in 2025. Peak: #50 in 1982 · most boys in one year: 8,365 (1989).
In 2025, 1,191 US boys were named Derek, making it the 284th most common boys’ name of the year, down 26 places from #258 in 2024. That is 166 fewer than the 1,357 boys named Derek in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #50, reached in 1982. The most boys given the name in a single year was 8,365, in 1989. For comparison, it was #211 in 2015 and #471 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Derek in 98 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1924 with 6 babies. In all, 239,969 US babies have been given the name, 0.4% of them girls and 99.6% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1980s, with 73,381 babies named Derek.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 12,888 US boys were named Derek; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 1,716. In 2025 that was about 1 in 1,434 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Derek ranked highest in New York in 2025, at #183 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Derrick (146,344 babies since 1880), Dick (29,321 babies since 1880), Dirk (10,955 babies since 1880) and Dereck (8,296 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Darek, Derreck and Deryk are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Derrek, Rick and Ricky.
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.
Rare spellings summarised here: Darek (1,561), Derreck (1,374), Deryk (759), Deryck (561), Derk (506), Dereke (207), Derec (104), Derak (74), Derryk (41), Dierk (22), Deriek (11), Derike (6), and more.
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.
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 14 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 108 | #183 | #136 |
| Rhode Island | 6 | #187 | #100 |
| New Jersey | 49 | #201 | #118 |
| Florida | 103 | #210 | #154 |
| Connecticut | 16 | #212 | #173 |
| Maryland | 27 | #214 | #348 |
| Texas | 173 | #229 | #151 |
| South Carolina | 24 | #234 | #412 |
| Nebraska | 10 | #251 | #455 |
| Colorado | 26 | #253 | #209 |
| Georgia | 46 | #269 | #321 |
| Utah | 19 | #269 | #211 |
| Pennsylvania | 42 | #277 | #195 |
| Massachusetts | 21 | #277 | #230 |
| Illinois | 39 | #281 | #274 |
| Wisconsin | 20 | #290 | #259 |
| California | 123 | #302 | #155 |
| Virginia | 27 | #307 | #306 |
| Kentucky | 17 | #307 | #364 |
| Arizona | 25 | #314 | #171 |
| Minnesota | 19 | #315 | #283 |
| North Carolina | 38 | #316 | #297 |
| New Mexico | 6 | #325 | #103 |
| Indiana | 22 | #344 | #296 |
| Oregon | 11 | #359 | #279 |
| Ohio | 29 | #382 | #271 |
| Tennessee | 20 | #399 | #390 |
| Washington | 18 | #408 | #264 |
| Louisiana | 11 | #432 | #286 |
| Oklahoma | 10 | #433 | #343 |
| Missouri | 14 | #442 | #296 |
| Kansas | 7 | #478 | #259 |
| Mississippi | 6 | #482 | #342 |
| Alabama | 10 | #489 | #393 |
| Michigan | 17 | #493 | #266 |
| Nevada | 5 | #530 | #139 |
| Iowa | 5 | #600 | #360 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 1,191 | #284 |
| 2024 | — | — | 1,357 | #258 |
| 2023 | — | — | 1,240 | #273 |
| 2022 | — | — | 1,156 | #297 |
| 2021 | — | — | 1,095 | #302 |
| 2020 | — | — | 1,063 | #309 |
| 2019 | — | — | 1,115 | #305 |
| 2018 | — | — | 1,409 | #256 |
| 2017 | — | — | 1,546 | #239 |
| 2016 | — | — | 1,716 | #226 |
| 2015 | — | — | 1,885 | #211 |
| 2014 | — | — | 1,881 | #205 |
| 2013 | — | — | 1,875 | #205 |
| 2012 | — | — | 2,116 | #182 |
| 2011 | 5 | #17,483 | 2,142 | #181 |
| 2010 | 6 | #15,476 | 2,293 | #171 |
| 2009 | — | — | 2,309 | #168 |
| 2008 | — | — | 2,488 | #159 |
| 2007 | — | — | 2,854 | #142 |
| 2006 | — | — | 2,647 | #159 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,333 | 2,420 | #172 |
| 2004 | 5 | #16,812 | 2,545 | #157 |
| 2003 | 7 | #12,759 | 2,754 | #149 |
| 2002 | — | — | 2,787 | #139 |
| 2001 | 6 | #13,997 | 3,007 | #132 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,005 | 3,214 | #121 |
| 1999 | — | — | 3,190 | #113 |
| 1998 | 10 | #8,765 | 3,410 | #110 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,228 | 3,672 | #106 |
| 1996 | 11 | #7,728 | 3,920 | #101 |
| 1995 | 13 | #6,746 | 4,452 | #83 |
| 1994 | 15 | #6,069 | 5,081 | #77 |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,642 | 5,762 | #67 |
| 1992 | 17 | #5,545 | 6,293 | #62 |
| 1991 | 18 | #5,236 | 6,893 | #59 |
| 1990 | 18 | #5,111 | 8,083 | #54 |
| 1989 | 37 | #2,943 | 8,365 | #54 |
| 1988 | 55 | #2,100 | 8,073 | #53 |
| 1987 | 57 | #1,964 | 8,253 | #54 |
| 1986 | 35 | #2,743 | 6,900 | #57 |
| 1985 | 41 | #2,411 | 6,661 | #56 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,347 | 6,972 | #52 |
| 1983 | 51 | #1,997 | 6,986 | #51 |
| 1982 | 44 | #2,261 | 6,992 | #50 |
| 1981 | 42 | #2,348 | 6,481 | #53 |
| 1980 | 55 | #1,944 | 7,240 | #50 |
| 1979 | 26 | #3,169 | 4,200 | #72 |
| 1978 | 21 | #3,536 | 3,800 | #75 |
| 1977 | 22 | #3,402 | 3,441 | #84 |
| 1976 | 19 | #3,569 | 3,168 | #84 |
| 1975 | 15 | #4,201 | 3,186 | #83 |
| 1974 | 21 | #3,234 | 3,636 | #74 |
| 1973 | 20 | #3,258 | 3,919 | #69 |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,590 | 4,146 | #67 |
| 1971 | 26 | #2,748 | 4,667 | #63 |
| 1970 | 15 | #3,911 | 4,147 | #77 |
| 1969 | 12 | #4,243 | 2,925 | #109 |
| 1968 | 12 | #4,052 | 2,460 | #122 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,698 | 2,447 | #123 |
| 1966 | 6 | #5,966 | 2,111 | #141 |
| 1965 | 8 | #4,941 | 1,801 | #167 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,182 | 1,589 | #172 |
| 1963 | 8 | #4,989 | 1,636 | #177 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,432 | 1,600 | #188 |
| 1961 | — | — | 1,405 | #205 |
| 1960 | — | — | 1,047 | #247 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,156 | 984 | #254 |
| 1958 | — | — | 917 | #256 |
| 1957 | — | — | 677 | #283 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,179 | 614 | #299 |
| 1955 | — | — | 501 | #330 |
| 1954 | — | — | 393 | #363 |
| 1953 | — | — | 338 | #374 |
| 1952 | — | — | 341 | #365 |
| 1951 | — | — | 278 | #408 |
| 1950 | — | — | 202 | #471 |
| 1949 | — | — | 113 | #642 |
| 1948 | — | — | 63 | #863 |
| 1947 | — | — | 61 | #892 |
| 1946 | — | — | 47 | #988 |
| 1945 | — | — | 41 | #1,000 |
| 1944 | — | — | 46 | #953 |
| 1943 | — | — | 81 | #714 |
| 1942 | — | — | 32 | #1,230 |
| 1941 | — | — | 18 | #1,650 |
| 1940 | — | — | 31 | #1,213 |
| 1939 | — | — | 23 | #1,402 |
| 1938 | — | — | 20 | #1,532 |
| 1937 | — | — | 9 | #2,532 |
| 1936 | — | — | 30 | #1,211 |
| 1935 | — | — | 11 | #2,285 |
| 1934 | — | — | 10 | #2,435 |
| 1933 | — | — | 11 | #2,254 |
| 1932 | — | — | 12 | #2,219 |
| 1931 | — | — | 16 | #1,871 |
| 1930 | — | — | 13 | #2,208 |
| 1929 | — | — | 6 | #3,653 |
| 1924 | — | — | 6 | #3,993 |
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).