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Darling

#3,300 in 2025Girls' name

From English Darling; literal meaning unconfirmed

Darling has been given to 1,060 babies in the U.S. since 1920. In 2025 it ranked #3,300 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 47 recorded.

Babies named Darling, 2025

1 in 70,500

Darling over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Darling: meaning, origin, and history

From English Darling; literal meaning unconfirmed

English

What Darling means

Darling is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Darling is used in Cebuano. Its origins include English.

Darling comes through English Darling.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,045 girls were recorded with the name Darling between 1920 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 47 in 2024; its best national rank was #3,001 in 1948.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,029 in 2020 to #3,300 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,876 in 2015 to #3,300 in 2025.

In the United States, 15 boys were recorded with the name Darling between 1932 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1932; its best national rank was #3,894 in 1932.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Darling?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 70,500
47 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 34,200
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,300
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
48,893 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Darling sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 48,893 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Darling. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Darlings were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Darling was born before 2005 — so the typical Darling is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
21.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
55.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
975
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 21.8% of all recorded uses (228).

Is Darling rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+50
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+729
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,576
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.14×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2024 (47)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,001
1948

Spellings of Darling

Darling is not the most common spelling — Darlene is, with 77.6% against Darling's 0.40%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Darling is used

Across 1910–2025, Darling was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 209,002 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Darling has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Darling around the world

Where Darling ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2023–2023
    #5,688
    in 2023
  • France
    1993–2025
    #7,078
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2023–2023
    #3,391
    in 2023

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Darling by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,300
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 729
Best rank ever
#3,001
1948
Peak year
2024
47 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,045
Count in 2025
47

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,894
1932
Peak year
1932
5 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
15
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Darling

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DarielaDariyahDarlynnDarielleDarlinDariannaDarinaDarrianDariahDarrellDarleanDarianaDarlynDarceyDarielDarahDarlyneDarlenyDareenDariyaDaryanaAislingDarlenaDarilyn

Sibling names for Darling

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Darling

Top names of 2024, Darling's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1948Girls' names starting with D