# Darling (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/darling/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from darling.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 18,879 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,904 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 16,354 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.7% (17,855 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɑːlɪŋ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From darling.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Darling in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 87% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 7.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Darling in the United States, The Bahamas, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Australia.

## People named Darling

- David Darling, American musician
- Chuck Darling, American basketball player (1930–2021)
- Gia Darling, American pornographic film actress, pornographic film director, and businesswoman
- Clifford Darling, Bahamian politician (1922-2011)
- Jean Darling, American actress (1922–2015)
- Ela Darling, American pornographic actress and entrepreneur
- Tom Darling, American rower
- Ralph Darling, British Army general (1772-1858)
- Jennifer Darling, American actress (1946-2026)
- Scott Darling, American ice hockey player (born 1988)
- Samuel Taylor Darling, American scientist (1872-1925)
- Dennis Darling, Bahamian athletics competitor (born 1975)

and 6 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Dreiling, Darlington, Darland, D'Orleans.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.