Darlene
The English endearment darling with the -lene ending of Marlene.
Popularity, 1880–2025
Darlene first shows up in the national records in 1896. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in every year from 1933 to 1966. Its biggest year was 1958, when 8,278 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 49 nationally. All told, 205,546 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Darleen (8,332), Darline (5,050), Darlyn (2,097), Darlyne (1,414), Darlin (936), Darilyn (632) (total births since 1880)
Other names that share a story: Marlene
Explore Darlene interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 11 | No. 1394 |
| 1900s | 92 | No. 961 |
| 1910s | 1,000 | No. 435 |
| 1920s | 7,426 | No. 160 |
| 1930s | 25,956 | No. 72 |
| 1940s | 40,321 | No. 71 |
| 1950s | 61,886 | No. 49 |
| 1960s | 43,527 | No. 75 |
| 1970s | 11,484 | No. 155 |
| 1980s | 5,184 | No. 362 |
| 1990s | 3,348 | No. 483 |
| 2000s | 2,372 | No. 825 |
| 2010s | 1,685 | No. 1132 |
| 2020s | 650 | No. 1779 |
Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper
Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.