Derek

See also: derék, derek, and Đerek

English

Alternative forms

• Derick
• Derrick
• Deryck

rare non-standard spellings (some based upon mispronunciations and mergers)

• Darek
• Darrick
• Darick
• Darriq
• Dereck
• Deric
• Derik
• Deriq
• Derreck
• Derrek
• Derrik
• Derryck
• Derryk
• Deryk
• Deryke

Etymology

Borrowed in the Middle Ages from a Middle Low German variant of Theodoric, and revived in the nineteenth century. Not related to Hebrew דֶּרֶךְ (déreḵ, “road”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛɹɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪk

Proper noun

Derek

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
   • 1895, The American Magazine, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, page 446:

     "Do you think so? Her husband has an odd name - Derek Keppel. He is a musician - a violinist."

   • 1974, Joseph Heller, Something happened, →ISBN, page 509:

     We do not entertain as much anymore because of Derek. (He produces strain. We have to pretend he doesn't.) I used to like him when I still thought he was normal. I was fond of him. I used to call him Dirk, and Kiddo, Steamshovel, Dinky Boy, and Dicky Dare. Till I found out what he was. Now it's always formal: Derek.

   • 2010, James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still, Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 292:

     Frederick or Derek Boothby was in his late fifties, the son of a naval officer and a daughter of the Earl of Limerick.

2. A surname.

Usage notes

Popular in the UK in mid-twentieth century.

Derived terms

• Bo Derek

 

Related terms

• Dedrick
• Del
• Derk
• Derry
• Dirk
• Jerrick
• Terry

Translations

given name

• Catalan: Teodoric
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 德里克 (Délǐkè), 德瑞克 (Déruìkè)

• Czech: Dětřich (cs)
• Dutch: Diederik (nl), Diedrich, Dirk (nl)
• Esperanto: Teodoriko (eo)
• Estonian: Tiidrik, Tiit
• Faroese: Tíðrikur
• Finnish: Tiiri (very rare as a first name, more commonly a surname), Didrik (rare)
• French: Thierry (fr)
• Galician: Teoderico
• German: Dietrich (de), Dirk (de)
• Greek: Θεοδώριχος (el) m (Theodórichos), Ντέρεκ (el) (Ntérek) (transliteration from English)

  Ancient Greek: Θευδέριχος m (Theudérikhos)

• Hungarian: Detre (hu)
• Icelandic: Diðrik (is), Þiðrik (is)
• Italian: Teodorico (it)
• Japanese: デレク (dereku)
• Latin: Theodoricus
• Latvian: Didzis m
• Norwegian: Didrik
• Polish: Teodoryk (pl) m
• Portuguese: Teodorico (pt)
• Romanian: Teodoric
• Russian: Дерек (ru) (Derek)
• Scottish Gaelic: Ruairidh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Теодорик

  Roman: Teodorik

• Slovene: Teodorik
• Spanish: Teodorico (es)
• Swedish: Didrik (sv)
• Walloon: Tiri (wa)

Further reading

• Behind the Name Article
• Think Baby Names Article