Darby
About Darby
Spirited and bubbly, but handsome and preppy too, Darby is a surname style choice that fits in well with the likes of Alby and Lennox.
Derived ultimately from Old Norse, as a surname, it likely emerged in reference to the English town Derby (pronounced the same).
Darby works particularly well with an O' surname, as in 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' and it could also be a unisex option (and is now more popular for girls in the US).
Patrick Dempsey chose it for one of his twin boys back in 2007.
Pronounced DAR-bee.
As of October 2026, Darby ranked #6540 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #721 in 1970, Nameberry popularity #545.
Editor's take: The name Darby is a boy's name of Irish, Scandinavian, Norse origin meaning "from the deer estate".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #3,628 | 29 | 15.1 |
| 2015 | #3,902 | 27 | 14.1 |
| 2016 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | #4,498 | 22 | 11.9 |
| 2018 | #3,549 | 31 | 17.1 |
| 2019 | #4,836 | 20 | 11.1 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | #4,519 | 22 | 12.6 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | #4,911 | 20 | 11.7 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Darby.
- Caldwell
- Baer
- Dawes
- Connelly
- Gallagher
- Calhoun
- Hewitt
- Nyle
- Woodford
- Macallister
- Carey
- Parry
- Farley
- Jens
- Thad
- Jonty
- Hewett
- Fineas
- Langdon
- Fielding
Darby on lists
Famous Darbys
- Darby Hendrickson
American hockey player
- Darby Conley
American cartoonist
- Darby Crash (born Jan Paul Beahm)
American punk musician (The Germs)
- Darby Galen Dempsey
son of American actor Patrick Dempsey
Darby in pop culture
- Darby
a character briefly appearing in the video game "Vexx"