How rare is the name Darlene?

145,944 people in the United States have the first name Darlene, about 1 in 2,070. It ranks #382 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

DARLENE

#382

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
145,944
About
1 in 2,070
This common or more
53.4%
Who bears it

Of the 145,944 people named Darlene, 73.2% reported their origin as White, 14.6% as Black and 7.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Darlene peaked in 1958, when 8,307 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18962025
Peak year
1958
Births that year
8,307
In 2025*
108 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 205,546 babies have been given the name since 1896. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Darlene by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1950s, when it ranked #136. The largest share of babies named Darlene, 52.9%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1890s#3,34211
1900s#2,02092
1910s#1,0821,000
1920s#4267,438
1930s#17126,065
1940s#14540,461
1950s#13662,024
1960s#18043,677
1970s#43411,532
1980s#7895,191
1990s#1,2233,348
2000s#1,8262,372
2010s#2,4641,685
2020s#3,371650
Before 19010%
Greatest Generation 1901–272.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4524.1%
Baby boom 1946–6452.9%
Generation X 1965–8013.9%
Millennials 1981–963.5%
Generation Z 1997–121.8%
2013 and later0.8%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Darlene is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Darlene has been most common in South Dakota (3×), North Dakota (3×), and Iowa (2.1×), and least common in Nevada (0.35×).

201,117 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Darlene

#380 Cathy · 146,470#381 Ricky · 146,356#383 Glenn · 145,760#384 Trevor · 145,694

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Darlene, most common first.

#3,556 Darleen · 5,799#5,280 Darline · 3,291#6,999 Darlin · 2,227#7,160 Darlyn · 2,152#7,819 Darling · 1,905#10,280 Darlena · 1,305#13,434 Darlyne · 899#18,988 Darlean · 563

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