9BabyNames Baby names with meanings & US popularity data

Darby

Pronunciation
[Dar-by]
Gender
Male
Meaning
Free Man
Origin
Gaelic
A perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment.

Darby Popularity Snapshot

Across the entire US Social Security Administration record (1880–2024), 2,927 baby boys have been named Darby. The name peaked in 1970 with 130 US births that year (rank #721). In 2024, ranked #7855 nationally — 7,134 places below its 1970 peak.

Top States for Darby

Based on 1910–2024 US SSA state-level records, the three states with the most Darby births are: California (160), Texas (56), Minnesota (30).

Other Gaelic-Origin Names Like Darby

If you like Darby's Gaelic origin, consider these related names: Abboid, Ahern, Aibhlin, Aidan, Ailin. Browse all Gaelic names →

5-Letter Names Starting with D

Names with Darby's exact length and starting letter: Dabir, Dacey, Dacia, Dacio, Daena.

Quick Facts About Darby

276
Gaelic baby names in our dictionary
210
Gaelic male names
220
5-letter D-names in our dictionary
618
D-male names total
2000–2002
years of US SSA records (3 total)
706
total US births named Darby (all years)

US Popularity History (2000–2002)

📉 Falling fast: Darby dropped 86 places in the US girls ranking over the last 2 years (#866 in 2000 → #952 in 2002).

Annual US births named Darby by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 254 girls named Darby (girl rank #866 that year).

Where it stands today: in 2002, ranked #952 for girls (235 US births). That's 86 places below its 2000 peak.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.

Looking for names like Darby?

A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.

See all names like Darby →

Compare Darby to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Darby against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Compare to a different name →

Darby Baby Name Ideas