Derrick
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Meaning
from Diederik/Theodoric, meaning 'ruler of the people'
The story
Derrick is a spelling of Derek, both descending from Theodoric, ruler of the people, a Gothic king's name that English has kept reinventing for fifteen centuries. By tradition the word derrick, the crane and the oil rig's tower, also traces back to a bearer: an Elizabethan-era London executioner whose surname became gallows slang and then, improbably, heavy machinery. As a first name it enters the American record in the 1930s and holds a long, level plateau from the 1970s through the 2010s, particularly steady in Black American naming, easing only recently. Royal etymology above, industrial silhouette below, and a hangman somewhere in the middle: Derrick carries considerably more freight than its two easy syllables admit. It remains a name that shakes hands firmly while staying uncommon enough that two rarely turn up in the same room, a balance the record has kept for fifty years.
Derrick's name family
One shared root links 4 names in English.
Shared root: the English branch of Germanic Theodoric "ruler of the people", arriving from the Low Countries in the Middle Ages
The family
More branches
How popular is Derrick around the world?
In the United States, 2,286 babies were named Derrick between 2020 and 2025.
Derrick is on the official records of the United States, Ireland, Canada, England and Wales, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 9,500
In the United States, 2,286 babies were named Derrick between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Derrick peaked in the 1970s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Ireland
1 in 14,000
In Ireland, 4 boys named Derrick were born in 2025, the 676th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 37,000
In Canada, 10 boys named Derrick were born in 2024, ranked 1,964th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 49,000
In England and Wales, 12 boys named Derrick were born in 2025, ranked 2,014th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Spain
1 in 860,000
In Spain, 52 residents are named Derrick, ranked 14,009th among men, with a mean age of 37.1 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
last on record 2015
Derrick is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Austria
last on record 2024
Derrick is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 95 people in Brazil were named Derrick, ranked 42,809th, with a median age of 11.
Among people named Derrick living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 23 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
last on record 2020
Derrick is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Puerto Rico
last on record 2014
Derrick is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 81 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Scotland
last on record 1996
Derrick is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2016
Derrick is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
How the spellings raced
Across these spellings, Derek led in the group’s busiest decade, the 1980s. So far in the 2020s, Derek leads.
Decade totals from US Social Security birth registrations. Every line uses the same scale. The 2020s covers 2020–2025.
When you meet Derrick
Most people given the name Derrick in the United States were born between 1970 and 1999. The Derrick you meet today is most often in his 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Derrick deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Derrick truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Derrick fits with your family’s names and surname.
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