Darek
Darek was given to 27 boys in 2025, #3,969 among boys’ names; 1,561 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,470 Americans named Darek and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 19 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Darek by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Darek mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Darek is “a male given name from the Germanic languages, a less common spelling of Derek.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Darek?
#3,969 among boys’ names, 2025
Darek fell from #3,901 in 2015 to #3,969 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 14.1 to 15.8 per million.
53 babies in 1973, the peak
Darek peaked in 1973, when 53 boys were given it, #1,127 among boys’ names. The 27 births of 2025 are 51% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27 | #3,969 | 15.8 |
| 2024 | 30 | #3,714 | 17.4 |
| 2023 | 48 | #2,703 | 28.1 |
| 2022 | 36 | #3,289 | 20.6 |
| 2021 | 18 | #5,159 | 10.3 |
| 2020 | 11 | #7,131 | 6.4 |
| 2019 | 8 | #9,069 | 4.5 |
| 2018 | 14 | #6,105 | 7.7 |
| 2017 | 17 | #5,337 | 9.2 |
| 2016 | 11 | #7,250 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27 | #3,901 | 14.1 |
| 2014 | 10 | #7,671 | 5.2 |
| 2013 | 13 | #6,320 | 6.9 |
| 2012 | 22 | #4,419 | 11.6 |
| 2011 | 12 | #6,668 | 6.3 |
| 2010 | 20 | #4,710 | 10.4 |
| 2009 | 17 | #5,374 | 8.6 |
| 2008 | 16 | #5,539 | 7.8 |
| 2007 | 21 | #4,530 | 10.1 |
| 2006 | 20 | #4,545 | 9.7 |
| 2005 | 26 | #3,634 | 13.0 |
| 2004 | 13 | #5,879 | 6.5 |
| 2003 | 19 | #4,306 | 9.6 |
| 2002 | 18 | #4,348 | 9.3 |
| 2001 | 18 | #4,328 | 9.3 |
| 2000 | 28 | #3,087 | 14.3 |
| 1999 | 20 | #3,722 | 10.4 |
| 1998 | 35 | #2,463 | 18.3 |
| 1997 | 25 | #2,994 | 13.3 |
| 1996 | 34 | #2,336 | 17.9 |
| 1995 | 30 | #2,515 | 15.8 |
| 1994 | 30 | #2,513 | 15.5 |
| 1993 | 32 | #2,353 | 16.3 |
| 1992 | 27 | #2,602 | 13.5 |
| 1991 | 43 | #1,831 | 21.3 |
| 1990 | 35 | #2,091 | 17.0 |
| 1989 | 29 | #2,297 | 14.5 |
| 1988 | 41 | #1,710 | 21.4 |
| 1987 | 35 | #1,831 | 18.7 |
| 1986 | 31 | #1,927 | 16.8 |
| 1985 | 37 | #1,678 | 20.0 |
| 1984 | 24 | #2,177 | 13.3 |
| 1983 | 32 | #1,758 | 17.9 |
| 1982 | 29 | #1,902 | 16.0 |
| 1981 | 28 | #1,956 | 15.6 |
| 1980 | 39 | #1,550 | 21.9 |
| 1979 | 21 | #2,324 | 12.2 |
| 1978 | 32 | #1,695 | 19.5 |
| 1977 | 35 | #1,577 | 21.3 |
| 1976 | 17 | #2,526 | 10.8 |
| 1975 | 20 | #2,220 | 12.8 |
| 1974 | 31 | #1,592 | 19.7 |
| 1973 | 53 | #1,127 | 34.0 |
| 1972 | 18 | #2,175 | 11.1 |
| 1971 | 37 | #1,400 | 20.9 |
| 1970 | 28 | #1,627 | 15.1 |
| 1969 | 18 | #1,997 | 10.1 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,128 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 21 | #1,718 | 12.0 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,665 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 12 | #2,388 | 6.5 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,349 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,711 | 4.9 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,713 | 2.9 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,140 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,647 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Darek a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Darek has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 66 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Darek: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Darek, and how old are they?
1,470 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,561 Americans ever recorded as Darek. The median Darek alive today is 34 years old; half are between 19 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 1,487 people named Darek (3 women and girls, 1,484 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,332 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 28 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 362 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 491 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 324 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 268 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 4,213 babies since 1880, Darek is the most given (37% of them). In 2025 it was given to 27 of their 33 babies (82%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Darek
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Darek and names like it
- Compare Darek and DarickBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sDarek peaked in 1973.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Darek since 1910.
- The top names of 1973The year the most babies were named Darek.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Darek alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with DMost given first.