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Darlington

Boys' name

From Middle English Dearnington; literal meaning unconfirmed

Darlington has been given to 12 babies in the U.S. since 2021. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2021, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Darlington, 2023

1 in 663,000

Darlington over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Darlington: meaning, origin, and history

From Middle English Dearnington; literal meaning unconfirmed

surname transfer

What Darlington means

Darlington is a given name.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Middle English Dearnington, Derlinton, from Old English Dēornōþingtūn, supposedly “the settlement of Dēornōþ's people”, from an unclear root + -ing + tūn.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Darlington (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Darlington is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Darlington comes through Middle English Dearnington and Old English Dēornōþingtūn.

Darlington is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Darlington is pronounced /ˈdɑːlɪŋtən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12 boys were recorded with the name Darlington between 2021 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2021; its best national rank was #9,950 in 2021.

How common is Darlington?

Darlington had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
459,528 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Darlington sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2023 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 459,528 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Darlington. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Darlingtons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Darlington was born before 2021 — so the typical Darlington is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
12
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (12).

Is Darlington 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2021 (7)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#9,950
2021

Spellings of Darlington

Darlington is not the most common spelling — Carrington is, with 34.9% against Darlington's 0.23%.

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.

Darlington around the world

Where Darlington 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
    2008–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Darlington by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#9,950
2021
Peak year
2021
7 that year
First recorded
2021
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
12
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Darlington

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

DarringtonDartaviusDarwensDartagnonPenningtonRemyngtonWillingtonDaricksonDartaviousDarreionDarriellDarmarcusDartrellBenningtonDarryellDarweshiRhemingtonDarlensDarionteTempletonCleightonAkhenatonBrockstonDarquise

Sibling names for Darlington

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 Darlington

Top names of 2021, Darlington's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with D