Derek

“Ruler of the people” — Germanic origin

Boy's name · #284 in the US (2025) · 80s

Derek's best rank, #50, came in 1980; it has stepped well back to #284 today. Roughly 239,000 boys have been named Derek since 1924. Derek's short forms are Del and Der. Together with its spelling variants Dereck (#688), Derrick (#850), and Derick (#1478), Derek would rank around #186 with about 2,000 births last year — the newborns split about 60/20/14/6 across Derek, Dereck, Derrick, and Derick.

Around the world: about 1 in 620 boys in Puerto Rico (2025) · about 1 in 2,400 boys in Canada (2024) · about 1 in 3,000 boys in Ireland (2025).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 39 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Dereks

Derek Walcott — Saint Lucian–Trinidadian poet and playwright (1930–2017)
Derek Barton — English organic chemist (1918–1998)
Derek Jacobi — English actor (born 1938)
Derek Boateng — Ghanaian footballer
Derek Jeter — American former professional baseball player, author, bussinessman and baseball broadcasters

In stories & tradition

Derek Shepherd — Grey's Anatomy · Private Practice
Derek Morgan — Criminal Minds
Derek Powers — Batman Beyond

What Dereks become

Among 1,957 notable people named Derek:

Sports figures appear 1.98× more often than among typical names — e.g. Derek Boateng, Ghanaian footballer.

Similar names: Dereck · Bradley · Devin · Clayton · Dustin · Erik

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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