Humanverse

Derrick vs Deryl

American parents have registered 146,344 Derricks since 1880, against 2,016 Deryls. Derrick is still ahead, with 288 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Derrick Deryl

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 109 years in which either name was published, Derrick for 80 years and Deryl for 29 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Derrick Deryl
Total US births 146,3442,016
Most in one year 4,17173
Babies in 2025 288under 5
Estimated living today 134,0001,300
Median age today 4165
Peak year 19801957
Best rank 74th boys1,015th boys
Rank in 2025 850thunranked
First recorded 19171915
Girls / boys 997 / 145,347190 / 1,826

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 Deryls alive today are over 65; half the Derricks are over 41. That is 24 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 Deryl.