Darlene
Darlene was given to 108 girls in 2025, #1,847 among girls’ names; 205,546 Americans have been recorded with it since 1896 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 140,000 Americans named Darlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 61 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Darlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Darlene mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Darlene is “a female given name from English [in turn originating as a coinage], of modern usage.”
A 20th-century coinage from darling and names like Charlene and Marlene.
/ˈdɑːliːn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Darlene?
#1,847 among girls’ names, 2025
Darlene fell from #1,439 in 2015 to #1,847 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 89.6 to 67.2 per million.
8,307 babies in 1958, the peak
Darlene peaked in 1958, when 8,307 babies were given it (8,278 girls, #49 among girls’ names). The 108 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 108 | #1,847 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 113 | #1,780 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 108 | #1,857 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 108 | #1,873 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 103 | #1,915 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 110 | #1,796 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 122 | #1,710 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 134 | #1,598 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 146 | #1,515 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 144 | #1,552 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (127)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 160 | #1,439 | 0.09 |
| 2014 | 171 | #1,364 | 0.10 |
| 2013 | 187 | #1,268 | 0.11 |
| 2012 | 217 | #1,132 | 0.12 |
| 2011 | 196 | #1,224 | 0.11 |
| 2010 | 208 | #1,168 | 0.12 |
| 2009 | 215 | #1,168 | 0.12 |
| 2008 | 236 | #1,102 | 0.12 |
| 2007 | 223 | #1,147 | 0.12 |
| 2006 | 244 | #1,050 | 0.13 |
| 2005 | 225 | #1,062 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 236 | #999 | 0.13 |
| 2003 | 203 | #1,084 | 0.11 |
| 2002 | 251 | #894 | 0.14 |
| 2001 | 266 | #857 | 0.15 |
| 2000 | 273 | #826 | 0.15 |
| 1999 | 224 | #935 | 0.13 |
| 1998 | 256 | #832 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 249 | #831 | 0.14 |
| 1996 | 283 | #746 | 0.16 |
| 1995 | 272 | #749 | 0.15 |
| 1994 | 344 | #636 | 0.19 |
| 1993 | 370 | #617 | 0.20 |
| 1992 | 378 | #602 | 0.20 |
| 1991 | 466 | #506 | 0.25 |
| 1990 | 506 | #482 | 0.27 |
| 1989 | 477 | #493 | 0.26 |
| 1988 | 482 | #468 | 0.27 |
| 1987 | 441 | #491 | 0.25 |
| 1986 | 451 | #477 | 0.26 |
| 1985 | 471 | #456 | 0.27 |
| 1984 | 459 | #452 | 0.27 |
| 1983 | 527 | #408 | 0.32 |
| 1982 | 584 | #396 | 0.34 |
| 1981 | 639 | #368 | 0.38 |
| 1980 | 653 | #362 | 0.39 |
| 1979 | 667 | #348 | 0.42 |
| 1978 | 718 | #319 | 0.47 |
| 1977 | 772 | #308 | 0.50 |
| 1976 | 827 | #279 | 0.56 |
| 1975 | 905 | #265 | 0.62 |
| 1974 | 1,019 | #251 | 0.69 |
| 1973 | 1,161 | #216 | 0.80 |
| 1972 | 1,416 | #199 | 0.93 |
| 1971 | 1,824 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1970 | 2,175 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 1969 | 2,460 | #137 | 1.5 |
| 1968 | 2,658 | #121 | 1.6 |
| 1967 | 3,069 | #111 | 1.9 |
| 1966 | 3,728 | #94 | 2.2 |
| 1965 | 4,356 | #83 | 2.5 |
| 1964 | 5,175 | #80 | 2.7 |
| 1963 | 5,153 | #85 | 2.7 |
| 1962 | 5,107 | #88 | 2.6 |
| 1961 | 5,728 | #80 | 2.8 |
| 1960 | 6,093 | #75 | 3.0 |
| 1959 | 6,876 | #66 | 3.4 |
| 1958 | 8,278 | #49 | 4.1 |
| 1957 | 7,784 | #57 | 3.8 |
| 1956 | 6,919 | #71 | 3.4 |
| 1955 | 5,641 | #76 | 2.9 |
| 1954 | 5,510 | #76 | 2.8 |
| 1953 | 5,591 | #75 | 3.0 |
| 1952 | 5,427 | #77 | 2.9 |
| 1951 | 5,030 | #79 | 2.8 |
| 1950 | 4,830 | #79 | 2.8 |
| 1949 | 4,799 | #75 | 2.8 |
| 1948 | 4,692 | #77 | 2.8 |
| 1947 | 5,255 | #71 | 3.0 |
| 1946 | 4,662 | #71 | 3.0 |
| 1945 | 3,626 | #71 | 2.8 |
| 1944 | 3,532 | #76 | 2.7 |
| 1943 | 3,774 | #73 | 2.7 |
| 1942 | 3,517 | #78 | 2.6 |
| 1941 | 3,344 | #76 | 2.8 |
| 1940 | 3,120 | #79 | 2.7 |
| 1939 | 3,287 | #75 | 3.0 |
| 1938 | 3,321 | #76 | 3.0 |
| 1937 | 3,285 | #72 | 3.1 |
| 1936 | 2,962 | #83 | 2.8 |
| 1935 | 2,703 | #91 | 2.6 |
| 1934 | 2,605 | #90 | 2.5 |
| 1933 | 2,408 | #96 | 2.4 |
| 1932 | 2,020 | #122 | 1.9 |
| 1931 | 1,822 | #128 | 1.7 |
| 1930 | 1,543 | #141 | 1.4 |
| 1929 | 1,302 | #160 | 1.2 |
| 1928 | 1,186 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 1927 | 1,109 | #185 | 0.93 |
| 1926 | 875 | #212 | 0.74 |
| 1925 | 741 | #241 | 0.61 |
| 1924 | 638 | #260 | 0.51 |
| 1923 | 493 | #291 | 0.41 |
| 1922 | 423 | #315 | 0.35 |
| 1921 | 384 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1920 | 275 | #398 | 0.23 |
| 1919 | 229 | #435 | 0.20 |
| 1918 | 181 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1917 | 170 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1916 | 131 | #587 | 0.13 |
| 1915 | 89 | #707 | 0.09 |
| 1914 | 81 | #643 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 50 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 30 | #927 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 20 | #988 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 19 | #1,006 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 18 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 14 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 12 | #1,155 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,783 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,755 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 11 | #1,110 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 8 | #1,348 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,346 | 0.03 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,156 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,445 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,636 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Darlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Darlene has been given almost only to girls: 604 boys in 127 years of records.
Girls and boys named Darlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Darlene, and how old are they?
140,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 205,546 Americans ever recorded as Darlene. The median Darlene alive today is 68 years old; half are between 61 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 145,944 people named Darlene (145,776 women and girls, 168 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 157,216 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 | 17,000 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 84,900 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 26,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,950 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,680 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,700 |
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 Darlene born?
The states with the most babies named Darlene are California, Pennsylvania and New York, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 18,933 | #892 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 15,373 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| New York | 14,190 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 12,964 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 12,615 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 10,775 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 7,424 | #1,554 | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 7,029 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Minnesota | 7,012 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Iowa | 5,653 | not ranked | 1.6× |
Where Darlene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Darlene is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Darlene 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 224,783 babies since 1880, Darlene is the most given (91% of them). In 2025 it was given to 108 of their 166 babies (65%), 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 Darlene
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 Darlene and names like it
- Compare Darlene and DarleenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDarlene peaked in 1958.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Darlene since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Darlene: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Darlene.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Darlene alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.