From the French surname d'Airelle, meaning from Airelle; used as a unisex given name.
Daryl traces its roots to Norman France, where it began as a surname derived from a small village called Airelle — or possibly d'Airelle — in Calvary. The Normans carried it to England after 1066, where it gradually transitioned from surname to given name over centuries. Related forms include Darrell and Darryl, and the name has always walked the line between masculine and feminine, making it one of the early genuinely unisex names in the Anglo-American tradition.
The twentieth century gave Daryl two iconic faces that pulled it in nearly opposite directions. Daryl Hall — one half of the massively successful blue-eyed soul duo Hall & Oates — gave the name a smooth, pop-radio coolness in the 1970s and 80s. Meanwhile, Daryl Hannah brought it fully into the feminine column with her luminous film career, particularly her role as the mermaid Madison in Splash (1984).
These dual icons cemented Daryl's genuine ambidexterity as a name, which was still relatively unusual in an era when most names were firmly gendered. In the world of comics and television, Daryl Dixon — the crossbow-wielding fan favorite of The Walking Dead — brought the name roaring back into cultural consciousness after 2010, giving it a rugged, survivalist masculinity. Across its history, Daryl has managed to be polished and earthy, feminine and masculine, retro and current depending entirely on the bearer. That flexibility is perhaps its most underrated quality: it refuses to be pinned down, which in naming terms is a kind of freedom.