Derek Boy
How popular is Derek?
#284 boy name in 2025
1,191 baby boys were named Derek in the US in 2025, making it the 284th most popular boy name.
Derek popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #284 for boys (▼ 26 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 1,191 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-37% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #211 in 2015, #309 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1989 (8,365 boys) |
| Highest rank | #50 in 1980 (2 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1924 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.9% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Derek counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Derek family of names ranked #235 for boys in 2025 (#219 the year before), with 1,592 babies in all.
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Derek is most popular
Babies named Derek per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- New Jersey: 1.4 per 1,000 (282 boys)
- Connecticut: 1.2 per 1,000 (82 boys)
- New York: 1.2 per 1,000 (518 boys)
- Florida: 1.2 per 1,000 (565 boys)
- Maryland: 1.1 per 1,000 (128 boys)
Derek by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 12 | #3,557 |
| 1930s | 155 | #1,205 |
| 1940s | 533 | #640 |
| 1950s | 5,245 | #254 |
| 1960s | 19,021 | #109 |
| 1970s | 38,310 | #63 |
| 1980s | 72,923 | #50 |
| 1990s | 50,756 | #54 |
| 2000s | 27,025 | #121 |
| 2010s | 17,978 | #170 |
| 2020s | 7,102 | #258 |
Boy names about as popular as Derek
Questions
- Is Derek a boy or girl name?
- Derek is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Derek were boys.
- How popular is the name Derek?
- 1,191 baby boys were named Derek in the US in 2025, making it the 284th most popular boy name.
- When was Derek most popular?
- Derek peaked in 1989, when 8,365 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #50, held for 2 years starting in 1980.
- How many people are named Derek?
- 239,969 babies have been named Derek in the US since 1880. We estimate about 225,324 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 38.
- Where is Derek most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Derek was most common in New Jersey, at 1.4 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.