Derek
Derek was given to 1,191 boys in 2025, #284 among boys’ names; 239,969 Americans have been recorded with it since 1924 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 224,000 Americans named Derek and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 28 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Derek by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Derek mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Derek is “a male given name from the Germanic languages.”
Borrowed in the Middle Ages from a Middle Low German variant of Theodoric, and revived in the 19th century.
/ˈdɛɹɪk/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Derek?
#284 among boys’ names, 2025
Derek fell from #211 in 2015 to #284 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.0 to 0.70 per 1,000.
8,402 babies in 1989, the peak
Derek peaked in 1989, when 8,402 babies were given it (8,365 boys, #54 among boys’ names). The 1,191 births of 2025 are 14% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,191 | #284 | 0.70 |
| 2024 | 1,357 | #258 | 0.79 |
| 2023 | 1,240 | #273 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 1,156 | #297 | 0.66 |
| 2021 | 1,095 | #302 | 0.63 |
| 2020 | 1,063 | #309 | 0.62 |
| 2019 | 1,115 | #305 | 0.62 |
| 2018 | 1,409 | #256 | 0.78 |
| 2017 | 1,546 | #239 | 0.84 |
| 2016 | 1,716 | #226 | 0.90 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,885 | #211 | 1.0 |
| 2014 | 1,881 | #205 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 1,875 | #205 | 1.0 |
| 2012 | 2,116 | #182 | 1.1 |
| 2011 | 2,142 | #181 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 2,293 | #171 | 1.2 |
| 2009 | 2,309 | #168 | 1.2 |
| 2008 | 2,488 | #159 | 1.2 |
| 2007 | 2,854 | #142 | 1.4 |
| 2006 | 2,647 | #159 | 1.3 |
| 2005 | 2,420 | #172 | 1.2 |
| 2004 | 2,545 | #157 | 1.3 |
| 2003 | 2,754 | #149 | 1.4 |
| 2002 | 2,787 | #139 | 1.4 |
| 2001 | 3,007 | #132 | 1.5 |
| 2000 | 3,214 | #121 | 1.6 |
| 1999 | 3,190 | #113 | 1.7 |
| 1998 | 3,410 | #110 | 1.8 |
| 1997 | 3,672 | #106 | 1.9 |
| 1996 | 3,920 | #101 | 2.1 |
| 1995 | 4,452 | #83 | 2.3 |
| 1994 | 5,081 | #77 | 2.6 |
| 1993 | 5,762 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1992 | 6,293 | #62 | 3.2 |
| 1991 | 6,893 | #59 | 3.4 |
| 1990 | 8,083 | #54 | 3.9 |
| 1989 | 8,365 | #54 | 4.2 |
| 1988 | 8,073 | #53 | 4.2 |
| 1987 | 8,253 | #54 | 4.4 |
| 1986 | 6,900 | #57 | 3.7 |
| 1985 | 6,661 | #56 | 3.6 |
| 1984 | 6,972 | #52 | 3.9 |
| 1983 | 6,986 | #51 | 3.9 |
| 1982 | 6,992 | #50 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 6,481 | #53 | 3.6 |
| 1980 | 7,240 | #50 | 4.1 |
| 1979 | 4,200 | #72 | 2.4 |
| 1978 | 3,800 | #75 | 2.3 |
| 1977 | 3,441 | #84 | 2.1 |
| 1976 | 3,168 | #84 | 2.0 |
| 1975 | 3,186 | #83 | 2.0 |
| 1974 | 3,636 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 1973 | 3,919 | #69 | 2.5 |
| 1972 | 4,146 | #67 | 2.6 |
| 1971 | 4,667 | #63 | 2.6 |
| 1970 | 4,147 | #77 | 2.2 |
| 1969 | 2,925 | #109 | 1.6 |
| 1968 | 2,460 | #122 | 1.4 |
| 1967 | 2,447 | #123 | 1.4 |
| 1966 | 2,111 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1965 | 1,801 | #167 | 1.0 |
| 1964 | 1,589 | #172 | 0.80 |
| 1963 | 1,636 | #177 | 0.81 |
| 1962 | 1,600 | #188 | 0.77 |
| 1961 | 1,405 | #205 | 0.66 |
| 1960 | 1,047 | #247 | 0.49 |
| 1959 | 984 | #254 | 0.46 |
| 1958 | 917 | #256 | 0.43 |
| 1957 | 677 | #283 | 0.31 |
| 1956 | 614 | #299 | 0.29 |
| 1955 | 501 | #330 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 393 | #362 | 0.19 |
| 1953 | 338 | #373 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 341 | #364 | 0.18 |
| 1951 | 278 | #407 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 202 | #470 | 0.11 |
| 1949 | 113 | #641 | 0.06 |
| 1948 | 63 | #862 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 61 | #891 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 47 | #988 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 41 | #999 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 46 | #953 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 81 | #714 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 32 | #1,230 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 18 | #1,650 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 31 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 23 | #1,402 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,532 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,532 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 30 | #1,211 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,285 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,435 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,253 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,219 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 16 | #1,871 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,208 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,651 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 6 | #3,991 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Derek a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Derek has been given almost only to boys: 909 girls in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Derek: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Derek, and how old are they?
224,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 239,969 Americans ever recorded as Derek. The median Derek alive today is 38 years old; half are between 28 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 201,259 people named Derek (246 women and girls, 201,013 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 221,246 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 115 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 9,430 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 51,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 101,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 43,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 18,400 |
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 Derek born?
The states with the most babies named Derek are Texas, California and New York, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 173 | #229 | 0.8× |
| California | 123 | #302 | 0.9× |
| New York | 108 | #183 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 103 | #210 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 49 | #201 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 46 | #269 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 42 | #277 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 39 | #281 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 38 | #316 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 29 | #382 | 0.9× |
Where Derek is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Derek is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1924 it was given 1.6 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 boys’ 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 Derek 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 429,860 babies since 1880, Derek is the most given (56% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,191 of their 2,038 babies (58%), 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 Derek
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 Derek and names like it
- Compare Derek and DerrickBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sDerek peaked in 1989.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Derek since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Derek: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Derek.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Derek alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with DMost given first.