Darrel

Derived from an Anglo-Norman surname referring to someone from Airelle in France. The spelling settled in English records as a surname before moving to first-name ledgers in the late nineteenth century. In America, it emerged alongside Darrell and Darryl as a streamlined alternative.

The single-L spelling suggests a birth certificate filled out without hesitation in the Eisenhower or Kennedy administrations. It reads as a man who owns a well-maintained socket set and knows the precise history of his furnace. Today, the average bearer is around sixty years old. He has spent most of his life correcting the second L that people insist on adding.