9BabyNames Baby names with meanings & US popularity data Italiano

Derek vs Oliver

How Derek and Oliver compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Derek

Male · German

Meaning: Gifted Ruler. From Theodoric.

Oliver

Male · French

Meaning: Legend Name

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Derek (boys) vs Oliver (boys), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Derek Oliver
Peak year (most US births) 1989 — 8,365 boys 2024 — 15,343 boys
Peak rank #54 #3
Most recent rank (2025) #284 (1,191 births) #3 (14,939 births)
Total US births since 1880 199,895 212,737
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 12,882 142,959

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Oliver reached 15,343 US births in 2024 — 6,978 more than Derek's peak count.

Crossover Years

Years where one name first passed the other in annual US births. A name "winning" in a year means it had more births that year, not necessarily a higher rank.

Year New leader Derek births Oliver births
1970 Derek 4,147 0
2007 Oliver 2,854 2,910

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name list.

Derek — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Delaware #174 20
2 New Jersey #185 479
3 Rhode Island #188 30
4 New York #192 996
5 Florida #202 986

Oliver — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Oregon #1 2,043
2 Iowa #1 1,836
3 Utah #1 2,587
4 Idaho #1 1,137
5 Wisconsin #1 2,988

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →