Derrick is an English spelling of Derek, which came to England from the Dutch Diederik and goes back to the Germanic Theodoric, meaning "ruler of the people". The word derrick for a lifting crane comes from a 17th-century London hangman of that name. NBA star Derrick Rose kept the name visible in the 2010s. Derrick stood at number 218 in 2000 and has fallen to number 850 among boys in 2025.