Humanverse

Derrick vs Derrik

American parents have registered 146,344 Derricks since 1880, against 2,142 Derriks. Derrick is still ahead, with 288 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Derrick Derrik

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

Derrick has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1917 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1992, when Derrick had 2,921 and Derrik had 100.

Side by side

  Derrick Derrik
Total US births 146,3442,142
Most in one year 4,171102
Babies in 2025 288under 5
Estimated living today 134,0002,000
Median age today 4134
Peak year 19801991
Best rank 74th boys1,077th boys
Rank in 2025 850thunranked
First recorded 19171954
Girls / boys 997 / 145,3470 / 2,142

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 Derricks alive today are over 41; half the Derriks are over 34. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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