How popular is the baby name Derrell in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Derrell.

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Popularity of the baby name Derrell


Posts that mention the name Derrell

Mystery baby name: Caster

Graph of the usage of the baby name Caster in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Caster

The top two debut names of 1953 were Trenace (for girls) and Caster (for boys). And you know what? Both have me stumped.

We’ve already talked about Trenace, so here are some details about Caster:

  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: 5 baby boys named Caster
  • 1955: 11 baby boys named Caster
  • 1954: 16 baby boys named Caster
  • 1953: 21 baby boys named Caster [debut]
  • 1952: unlisted

Caster doesn’t seem to be a variant of some other name (like Casper, or Lancaster). So I’m assuming this usage corresponds to someone named Caster — either real or fictional — who was in the public eye for several years in a row.

The tricky thing is, of course, that any online search for the name “Caster” turns up all sorts of extraneous stuff — fishing, furniture, music (stratocaster), sports (sportscaster), and so forth.

Still, I was able to track down a few clues.

Records suggest that the majority of these 1950s Casters had middle names that started with D. Here’s a Caster D. born in 1953, and another Caster D. born in 1957.

And every single D-middle I tracked down included the letter L and/or the letter R. Some examples: Dell, Derrell, Derrel, Derriel, Daryl, Deryl, Derald, Derra, Doria, and Doral. A handful of people even had combination names like Casterdale or Casterdell (b. 1953).

Finally, it looks like most of the people named Caster D. were born in the South.

Do you have any idea where the name Caster might have come from?

Baby name needed: Name for biracial baby boy

A reader named Laurie is trying to find a name for her baby boy:

I am white, my boyfriend is black. […] The problem is he does not want a “ghetto” baby name, but I don’t want a plain old “Matt or Jeff” name. He seems to be stuck on the name Martell but it reminds me of the name Martin…I hate it. He has now said he wants the name to end in -tell, as in “Dontell” (his brother). I am not creative enough to think of any names that end in -tell, please help me.

I couldn’t come up with many -tell names, either. But there are plenty of names that end with an L-sound, such as:

Abdul
Ansel
Axel
Cordell
Cornell
Darnell
Darrell
Denzel
Derrell
Donell
Durrell
Emmanuel
Ezekiel
Farrell
Ferrell
Gabriel
Harrell
Howell
Ishmael
Jamal
Jarrell
Jemuel
Jerrell
Joel
Khalil
Kordell
Latrell
Lemuel
Lindell
Lionel
Lowell
Lydell
Markell
Maxwell
Mitchell
Montel
Nathaniel
Nemuel
Newell
Nigel
Parnell
Phanuel
Randal
Roswell
Russell
Shamal
Shemuel
Terrell
Tyrel
Vernell
Wendell
Zuriel

Do any of you have other name suggestions or advice for Laurie?