Darian is a modern variant of Darius, the name of the Persian kings, which is usually explained as "possessing goodness" or "he who holds firm the good"; it is also read as a form of Dorian. It fits the smooth -ian endings of Adrian and Damian that were popular in the 1990s. Darian ranked number 415 in 2000, slid to number 788 in 2015, briefly dropped out of the top 1000 in 2023 and stands at number 928 in 2025.