Darren

Darren is a given name of uncertain etymological origins. The most popular theory is that it originated from a Gaelic surname meaning "great". Another is that it is an English version of the name Darryl, which originated from the French surname D'Airelle meaning "of Airelle".

There is a line of thought that in Old English, it could mean 'great rocky hill'. Outside the small town of Bala, mid Wales, United Kingdom, there is a small mountain called 'Moel Darren'. Moel is Welsh for describing a mountain or hill with a rounded summit. See external links at the bottom of the page.

Darren is the most popular spelling of many variants of the name, but was virtually unheard of before the late 1950s. The increasing popularity of this name may be due to the television show Bewitched which featured a character named Darrin. It may also be due to the popularity of the singer Bobby Darin in 1958. It is currently ranked at 342 in the USA.

In sports:

• Darren Albert, Australian Rugby League player for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
• Darren Bennett (footballer), played both Australian Rules football and American football professionally
• Darren Bent English Professional footballer currently playing for Charlton
• Darren Byfield, English professional footballer currently playing for Milwall
• Darren Collins, a professional footballer: Rushden and Diamonds all-time record goalscorer
• Darren Currie, English footballer
• Darren Drozdov, retired professional wrestler who competed in the WWF from 1998 until 1999
• Darren Fletcher, Scottish professional footballer currently playing for Manchester United.
• Darren Gilford, Maltese athlete specializing in both the 100 metres and the 4x100 metre relay races
• Darren Gough, English cricketer
• Darren Huckerby, professional footballer
• Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league player
• Darren Lange, freestyle swimmer from Australia
• Darren Mackie Scottish professional footballer currently playing for Aberdeen FC
• Darren Pang, Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Chicago Blackhawks
• Darren Ritchie, Scottish long jumper
• Darren Rumble, Canadian ice hockey defenseman
• Darren Sharper, American football free safety who plays for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League
• Darren Smith, Australian rugby league player
• Darren Turcotte, retired professional ice hockey player
• Darren Wilson, NBA bulls

In television, film and art:

• Darren Aronofsky, American filmmaker
• Darren Bennett (dancer), professional dancer
• Darren Bett, weatherman for the BBC
• Darren Boyd, British actor
• Darren Jordon, main newsreader on BBC 1
• Darren McGavin, American actor
• James Darren, American television and film actor, television director, and singer
• Darren Keith, New Zealand artist

In music:

• DARREN, singer-songwriter
• Darren Hayes, singer-songwriter
• Darren Jessee, drummer for the rock group Ben Folds Five
• Darren Miller, former singer for the electronic group backandtotheleft
• Darren Robinson (musician), guitarist and background singer in the Californian band Phantom Planet
• Darren Robinson (rapper), member of the 80s rap group The Fat Boys

    darren is gay

In writing

• Darren Shan, author of the Demonata series

This given name, or a variation, is very occasionally applied to females, as in Daryn Kagan.

External links

• Behind the Name
• Names Database
• Moel Darren on Ordnance Survey map, Wales, United Kingdom