Dirk
Dirk was given to 21 boys in 2025, #4,746 among boys’ names; 10,955 Americans have been recorded with it since 1918 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,720 Americans named Dirk and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (80% of everyone recorded); the median is 58 years old and half are between 45 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dirk by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dirk mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dirk is “a male given name from German or Dutch, equivalent to English Derek.”
Borrowed from Dutch and North German Dirk.
/dɝk/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dirk?
#4,746 among boys’ names, 2025
Dirk fell from #4,103 in 2015 to #4,746 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 13.0 to 12.3 per million.
438 babies in 1954, the peak
Dirk peaked in 1954, when 438 boys were given it, #340 among boys’ names. The 21 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | #4,746 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 12 | #6,931 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 20 | #4,920 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 19 | #5,071 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 19 | #4,969 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 25 | #4,042 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 31 | #3,586 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 18 | #5,150 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 34 | #3,329 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 24 | #4,225 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #4,103 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 27 | #3,816 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 26 | #3,887 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 27 | #3,821 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 40 | #2,915 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 27 | #3,838 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 38 | #3,063 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 42 | #2,842 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 43 | #2,771 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 46 | #2,594 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 50 | #2,336 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 27 | #3,473 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 47 | #2,282 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 25 | #3,472 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 33 | #2,815 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 44 | #2,227 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 46 | #2,069 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 45 | #2,075 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 32 | #2,504 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 60 | #1,618 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 49 | #1,780 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 57 | #1,610 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 67 | #1,417 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 67 | #1,379 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 76 | #1,276 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 82 | #1,201 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 107 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 115 | #890 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 100 | #942 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 106 | #884 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 112 | #852 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 122 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 128 | #766 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 97 | #909 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 121 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 148 | #714 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 176 | #643 | 0.10 |
| 1978 | 102 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 115 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 122 | #753 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 159 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 180 | #597 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 159 | #625 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 164 | #615 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 277 | #483 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | 342 | #442 | 0.18 |
| 1969 | 343 | #425 | 0.19 |
| 1968 | 330 | #425 | 0.19 |
| 1967 | 312 | #429 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 298 | #444 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 302 | #446 | 0.16 |
| 1964 | 333 | #438 | 0.17 |
| 1963 | 336 | #436 | 0.17 |
| 1962 | 314 | #446 | 0.15 |
| 1961 | 379 | #405 | 0.18 |
| 1960 | 363 | #417 | 0.17 |
| 1959 | 371 | #412 | 0.17 |
| 1958 | 314 | #444 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 369 | #404 | 0.17 |
| 1956 | 365 | #394 | 0.17 |
| 1955 | 377 | #370 | 0.18 |
| 1954 | 438 | #340 | 0.21 |
| 1953 | 150 | #586 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 109 | #661 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 101 | #697 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 94 | #706 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 78 | #778 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 47 | #1,026 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 52 | #984 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 36 | #1,159 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 33 | #1,141 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 32 | #1,176 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 32 | #1,223 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 31 | #1,253 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,707 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,532 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 28 | #1,244 | 0.03 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,574 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 20 | #1,546 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,745 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,603 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,878 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,662 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 23 | #1,477 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,787 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,209 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,023 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 9 | #2,897 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,347 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,456 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,469 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,581 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,390 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #3,972 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 6 | #3,833 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dirk a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dirk has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 105 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Dirk: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dirk, and how old are they?
8,720 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 80% of the 10,955 Americans ever recorded as Dirk. The median Dirk alive today is 58 years old; half are between 45 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 10,024 people named Dirk (19 women and girls, 10,005 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 9,190 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 85 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,270 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,390 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 602 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 299 |
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 Dirk born?
The states with the most babies named Dirk are California, Illinois and Ohio, with 34% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,173 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 711 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 565 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 530 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 420 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 373 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 371 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 333 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Iowa | 256 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Washington | 233 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Dirk is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dirk is most over-represented in Utah: since 1918 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 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 Dirk 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 11,057 babies since 1880, Dirk is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 21 of their 21 babies (100%), 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 Dirk
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 Dirk and names like it
- Compare Dirk and DirckBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDirk peaked in 1954.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dirk since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Dirk: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1954The year the most babies were named Dirk.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dirk alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.