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Derek

Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of Diederik, the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler" or "lead the people".

Common variants of the name are Derrek, Derik, Deryck (included here), as well as Derrick and Derick.

History

The English form of the name arises in the 15th century, via import from the Low Countries. The native English (Anglo-Saxon) form of the name was Deoric or Deodric, from Old English Þēodrīc, but this name had fallen out of use in the medieval period. During the Late Middle Ages, there was intense contact between the territories adjacent to the North Sea, in particular due to the activities of the Hanseatic League. As a result, there was a lot of cross-pollination between Low German, Dutch, English, Danish and Norwegian. The given name Derk is found in records of the Low Countries from the early 14th century, and in the spelling Derck becomes rather common in name lists compiled in the Habsburg Netherlands during the early 16th century. An early bearer of the name Derek was lord of Keppel, Gelderland, in the early 14th century. A Derek van Keppel, lord of Verwoelde, died in 1495 and was succeeded by his eldest son, also called Derek van Keppel. A later Derek van Keppel died in 1646, succeeded by Asewolt van Keppel, the father of Arnold van Keppel, who in 1688 was made Earl of Albemarle in the Peerage of England.

Given name "Derek"

Arts and entertainment

A–M

N–Z

Sports

A–M

N–Z

Business

Politics

Science, education and academics

  • Derek Abbott (born 1960), physicist and electronic engineer
  • Derek Barton (1918–1998), British physical chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
  • Derek Bickerton (1926–2018), linguist and academic
  • Derek Birley (1926–2002), academic and educator
  • Derek Blake, academic and research scientist
  • Derek Bok (born 1930), American lawyer and educator
  • Derek Briggs (born 1950), Irish paleontologist
  • Derek Denny-Brown (1901–1981), British neurologist
  • Derek Denton (1924–2022), Australian scientist
  • Derek Hirst (born 1948), English historian of early-modern Britain
  • Derek Hockridge (1934–2013), British translator, lecturer and expert in French society and culture
  • Derek Hopwood (1933–2020), British academic and author
  • Derek Kidner (1913-2008), British Old Testament scholar
  • Derek Long (1925–2020), former professor of structural chemistry at the University of Bradford, working in the field of Raman spectroscopy
  • Derek McCormack, New Zealand biochemist and academic
  • Derek Wragge Morley (1920–1969) independent science consultant and journalist noted for study of ants
  • Derek Parfit (1942–2017), British philosopher and academic
  • Derek J. de Solla Price (1922–1983), information scientist and science historian
  • Derek Ratcliffe (1929–2005), British nature conservationist
  • Derek Roe (1937–2014), British paleolithic archeologist and academic
  • Derek Summerfield, controversial psychiatrist and writer
  • Derek Taunt (1917–2004), British mathematician and codebreaker
  • Derek van der Kooy (born 1952), scientist and academic working in stem cell research

Writing

Miscellaneous

  • Derek Bentley (1933–1953), Englishman hanged for murder and subsequently pardoned
  • Derek Chauvin (born 1976), American former police officer convicted in the murder of George Floyd
  • Derek Anthony Seagrim (1903–1943), English soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross
  • Derek Watson (priest) (born 1938), British retired churchman, former Dean of Salisbury in the Church of England
  • Derek Wood (c. 1964 – 1988), one of two British soldiers killed in the 1988 Corporals killings incident
  • Derek (horse) (born 1978), a Brazilian thoroughbred racehorse

Fictional characters

Spelling variants

Derik

Derrek

Deryck

Popularity

Since 1940, the peak of the popularity of the name Derek in the United States was in the 1980s.

Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth.

^ Rank > 1000

Source: Social Security Administration.

See also

References

External links