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 [ 2 syll. de-rek, der-ek ] The boy name Derek is pronounced as DEHRihK KEY. Derek is primarily used in the Dutch and English languages, and its language of origin is Gothic. The name is of the meaning ruler of the people. Two-element name derived from the elements 'thiuda' meaning people, race ; 'reiks' meaning rich, powerful, ruler. An old form of Derek is Diederich (Germanic). The name was first introduced by Flemish cloth traders and immigrants, who settled in Britain around the 15th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a variant of the name was known from Thomas Derrick, a notable English executioner who devised a system for the hangings; thus the term 'derrick' came to be used for the frame of the hangman's noose and subsequently the modern day cranes. Derek has 32 variant forms that are used in both English and other languages. Variant forms of Derek used in English include Darick, Darik, Darrek, Darrik, Der, Derec, Derik, Derrec, Deryk, Dietrich (used in German and Romanian as well), Rick, and Ricky (used in Spanish as well). Other English forms include the short forms Del, Derk (used in Dutch and as well), and Dirk (used in Dutch, Flemish, and German as well), the pet form Derry, and the variant spellings Darrick, Dereck, Derick, Derreck, Derrick, Derrik, and Deryck. Foreign variant forms of Derek include the German Diederick, the Dutch Diederik, the German Dieter, the German Dietreich, the Hungarian Ditrik, the Polish Dorek, and the Dutch Tiede. Specific foreign variants include the short forms Dierk (German) and Tjark (Frisian). Derek is a variant form of the English name Theodoric. Derek is popular as a baby name for boys. The name jumped in popularity from the 1940s up to the 1980s. At the modest peak of its usage in 1987, 0.423% of baby boys were given the name Derek. Its ranking then was #54. The baby name has since declined in popularity. In 2008, its usage was 0.115% and its ranking #159, but it was nonetheless the most popular out of all boy names in its group. In 2008, Derek was twice as popular as the 2nd most popular name, the English Derrick. Baby names that sound like Derek include the Polish Darek, the English Darrek, the English Derick, the English Derik, the English Derrick, the English Deryck, the English Deryk, the Irish Darach, the English Darcey, the English Darcy, the Greek Dareios, the English Darick, the English Darik, the Slavic Darko, the Iranian Daroosh, the English Darrick, the English Darrik, the English Darsell, the English Darsey, and the English Darsy. A famous person named Derek is Baseball Player, Derek Jeter, born 26 June 1974, Pequannock, New Jersey. KEY: Pronunciation for Derek: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)"   |
