Darla
Darla was given to 275 girls in 2025, #941 among girls’ names; 43,694 Americans have been recorded with it since 1924 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 36,500 Americans named Darla and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 53 and 67.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Darla by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Darla mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Darla is “a female given name from English.”
Back-formation from Darlene
/ˈdɑːlə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Darla?
#941 among girls’ names, 2025
Darla rose from #1,679 in 2015 to #941 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.07 to 0.17 per 1,000.
2,391 babies in 1963, the peak
Darla peaked in 1963, when 2,391 girls were given it, #165 among girls’ names. The 275 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 275 | #941 | 0.17 |
| 2024 | 246 | #1,025 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 199 | #1,202 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 202 | #1,191 | 0.12 |
| 2021 | 190 | #1,239 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 155 | #1,414 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 165 | #1,368 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 181 | #1,272 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 161 | #1,419 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 185 | #1,294 | 0.10 |
Every recorded year (99)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 127 | #1,679 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 161 | #1,416 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 151 | #1,471 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 174 | #1,347 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 143 | #1,533 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 140 | #1,569 | 0.08 |
| 2009 | 126 | #1,735 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 127 | #1,747 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 106 | #1,941 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 88 | #2,193 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 104 | #1,858 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 109 | #1,759 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 105 | #1,788 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 91 | #1,937 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 106 | #1,701 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 97 | #1,790 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 86 | #1,845 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 93 | #1,711 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 99 | #1,605 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 105 | #1,520 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 120 | #1,368 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 67 | #2,062 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 76 | #1,864 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 88 | #1,701 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 114 | #1,405 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 120 | #1,331 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 117 | #1,324 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 148 | #1,066 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 142 | #1,076 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 136 | #1,093 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 176 | #903 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 197 | #806 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 219 | #746 | 0.13 |
| 1982 | 259 | #680 | 0.15 |
| 1981 | 287 | #628 | 0.17 |
| 1980 | 315 | #587 | 0.19 |
| 1979 | 313 | #583 | 0.19 |
| 1978 | 333 | #538 | 0.22 |
| 1977 | 341 | #532 | 0.22 |
| 1976 | 382 | #481 | 0.26 |
| 1975 | 409 | #460 | 0.28 |
| 1974 | 493 | #407 | 0.34 |
| 1973 | 559 | #375 | 0.38 |
| 1972 | 692 | #331 | 0.45 |
| 1971 | 895 | #305 | 0.54 |
| 1970 | 965 | #299 | 0.55 |
| 1969 | 1,058 | #271 | 0.63 |
| 1968 | 1,152 | #240 | 0.70 |
| 1967 | 1,265 | #230 | 0.77 |
| 1966 | 1,445 | #211 | 0.85 |
| 1965 | 1,581 | #208 | 0.90 |
| 1964 | 2,044 | #185 | 1.1 |
| 1963 | 2,391 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 1962 | 1,964 | #190 | 1.0 |
| 1961 | 1,717 | #203 | 0.85 |
| 1960 | 1,723 | #202 | 0.85 |
| 1959 | 1,672 | #203 | 0.83 |
| 1958 | 1,355 | #223 | 0.67 |
| 1957 | 1,334 | #230 | 0.65 |
| 1956 | 1,209 | #237 | 0.60 |
| 1955 | 877 | #292 | 0.45 |
| 1954 | 700 | #318 | 0.36 |
| 1953 | 645 | #324 | 0.34 |
| 1952 | 623 | #329 | 0.34 |
| 1951 | 617 | #319 | 0.34 |
| 1950 | 567 | #323 | 0.33 |
| 1949 | 502 | #345 | 0.29 |
| 1948 | 450 | #372 | 0.27 |
| 1947 | 528 | #347 | 0.30 |
| 1946 | 592 | #303 | 0.38 |
| 1945 | 303 | #408 | 0.23 |
| 1944 | 318 | #397 | 0.24 |
| 1943 | 365 | #378 | 0.26 |
| 1942 | 409 | #346 | 0.30 |
| 1941 | 406 | #326 | 0.34 |
| 1940 | 356 | #339 | 0.31 |
| 1939 | 318 | #368 | 0.29 |
| 1938 | 244 | #428 | 0.22 |
| 1937 | 185 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1936 | 246 | #410 | 0.24 |
| 1935 | 98 | #672 | 0.09 |
| 1934 | 29 | #1,351 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,794 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 26 | #1,492 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 18 | #1,893 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 23 | #1,672 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,900 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,109 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,088 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Darla a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Darla has been given almost only to girls: 27 boys in 99 years of records.
Girls and boys named Darla: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Darla, and how old are they?
36,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 43,694 Americans ever recorded as Darla. The median Darla alive today is 62 years old; half are between 53 and 67.
The 2020 Census counted 34,954 people named Darla (34,929 women and girls, 25 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 37,437 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,440 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 17,400 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 11,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,780 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,380 |
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).
Where are babies named Darla born?
The states with the most babies named Darla are California, Texas and Ohio, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4,919 | #629 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 4,573 | #823 | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 3,112 | #1,173 | 1.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,960 | #1,038 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 1,894 | #1,460 | 0.8× |
| Oklahoma | 1,837 | #561 | 3.2× |
| Indiana | 1,773 | #746 | 1.5× |
| Minnesota | 1,401 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Missouri | 1,282 | #837 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 1,265 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Darla is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Darla is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1924 it was given 3.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Darla with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 45,380 babies since 1880, Darla is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 275 of their 372 babies (74%), 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 Darla
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 Darla and names like it
- Compare Darla and DarielaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sDarla peaked in 1963.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Darla since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Darla: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Darla.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Darla alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.