Derek

What Derek means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Derek yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1989, with 8,365 babies; 1,191 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Derek?

US: Falling: down from #211 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #1586 in 2015, #1705 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1987, when 8,253 boys got the name (#54 that year). First in the US records in 1924.

How common

• About 1 in 1,434 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 18,129 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in RI (1.92 per 1,000 boys), NY (1.28 per 1,000 boys), NJ (1.23 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Derek is #284 in the US and #1705 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Derek were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Dereck396 US
• Derick120 US · 7 E&W
• Derik27 US
• Darek27 US
• Tarek22 US
• Doruk10 US · 4 E&W
• Tyrek14 US
• Deric11 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Derick
• Derrick
• Deryck

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Derek

Boys

• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025
• Ronald#637“advice + power”^*
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Roger#832“fame-spear”^*

For a sister

• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Derek’s. Rank is US 2025.