Name Awesome

Derry

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Oak grove

Derry has been given to 1,678 babies in the U.S. since 1914. 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 1957, with 50 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 92% boys, 8% girls all-time.

Babies named Derry, 2016

1 in 612,000

Derry over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Derry over time

In 2016, Derry went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19142016

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Derry: meaning, origin, and history

Oak grove

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Derry means

Derry means “oak grove”, associated with doire.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Irish Doire, from doire (“oak grove”), from Old Irish daire (“oak forest”), from Proto-Celtic *daru.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Derry is used in English.

Derry comes through Irish Doire, Old Irish daire and Proto-Celtic *daru.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Derry is pronounced /ˈdɛɹi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,541 boys were recorded with the name Derry between 1914 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 50 in 1957; its best national rank was #1,075 in 1957.

In the United States, 137 girls were recorded with the name Derry between 1932 and 1973. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1961; its best national rank was #3,509 in 1942.

How common is Derry?

Derry had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2016, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2016
1 in 612,000
6 of 3,669,531 births
Among boys only
1 in 316,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2016
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
423,922 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Derry 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 2016 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 423,922 children born in 2016 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Derry. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Derrys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Derry was born before 1959 — so the typical Derry is around 66 today.

Median birth year
1959
About 66 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
21.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,098
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 21.7% of all recorded uses (335).

Is Derry 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 1957 (50)
Years since peak
68
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,075
1957

Spellings of Derry

Derry is not the most common spelling — Larry is, with 19.7% against Derry's 0.04%.

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 Derry is used

Across 1910–2025, Derry was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 657,164 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in 100,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in —
  3. 3Arkansas1 in —
  4. 4Illinois1 in —
  5. 5Mississippi1 in —
  6. 6North Carolina1 in —
  7. 7Ohio1 in —
  8. 8South Carolina1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Derry has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Derry around the world

Where Derry 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
    1996–2022
    #3,049
    in 2022
  • Scotland
    1991–2025
    #647
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1975–2016
    #541
    in 2016
  • France
    1953–1983
    #2,577
    in 1983
  • South Australia
    1948–1957
    #427
    in 1957

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Derry 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
#1,075
1957
Peak year
1957
50 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
1,541
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,509
1942
Peak year
1961
12 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
1973
All-time count
137
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Derry

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

DerinDerronDerianDericCurryDerikDeronDerylDerrekDerrionDerwinDerykDerricDerriusDeranDereonDerrelDerrikDeraldDerionDereckDarryDerrylTorry

Sibling names for Derry

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 Derry

Top names of 1957, Derry's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1957Boys' names starting with D