From Norman French 'd'Airelle,' a surname meaning 'from Airelle,' a place in France.
Darrel is a variant spelling of Darrell or Darryl, a name whose origins lie in the English landscape through the mechanisms of Norman French. The name derives from the surname D'Airelle, indicating a person who came from Airelle — a commune in Normandy, France — with the "d'" being the French preposition meaning "from" or "of." Like many English surnames that became first names, Darrell made the transition gradually, its geographical specificity dissolving as generations passed until only the sound remained, carrying its Norman origins invisibly.
The name gained notable currency in the English-speaking world during the twentieth century, particularly in the United States and Canada. It reached peak popularity in the 1950s through 1970s, carried by several prominent cultural figures. Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates helped define the sound of soft rock; Darryl Strawberry was one of baseball's most gifted and tragic talents of the 1980s; the fictional Darryl brothers of the television series "Newhart" — Larry's brothers, both named Darryl — made the name briefly, warmly comedic.
In American film and television, Darrel, Darrell, and Darryl proliferated as solid, masculine, working-class names. The multiple spelling variants — Darrel, Darrell, Darryl, Daryl — reflect the name's long residency in the vernacular, each family imprinting their own orthographic preference. Darrel with a single "l" and single "r" is the most spare rendering, with a clean economy of letters that suits parents who prefer minimal fuss. The name carries a distinctly mid-twentieth-century American character now, which lends it the vintage quality that makes names of that era increasingly appealing to a new generation.