Given name & surname
Darko
“a manly man”
Darko is used as a given name and a surname. One Slavic interpretation is “a manly man.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Slavic interpretation is “a manly man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Slavic.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1987. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Darko through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 67
- 67 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2017
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11 in 2017. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 744 as a first name in 2020; 1,275 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Darko’s family of names
In Slovak usage, Darko is a diminutive of Dárius. Darko has a related form in Dark. Darko has a related form in Darke.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Around the world
Darko has relatives in 6 languages. Lines run from its Proto-Slavic roots to each of them.
4 related names in 6 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Darko
- Darko MiličićSerbian basketball player (born 1985)
- Darko PančevMacedonian footballer (born 1965)
- Darko KovačevićSerbian footballerborn 1973
- Darko LazovićSerbian footballer (born 1990)
- Darko BrašanacSerbian footballerborn 1992
- Darko VelkovskiMacedonian footballerborn 1995
- Darko MilaničSlovenian footballer and managerborn 1967
- Darko RundekCroatian rock musicianborn 1956
- Darko TodorovićBosnian association football playerborn 1997
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Darko, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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