Darnell is a unisex

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

and

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

. The surname refers to a group of people in medieval ages who grew a plant called

Darnel ''Lolium temulentum'', typically known as darnel, poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle, is an annual plant of the genus '' Lolium'' within the family Poaceae. The plant stem can grow up to one meter tall, with inflorescence in the ears and p ...

, which had intoxicatory properties. The last name originated in France, the plant can only grow in Mediterranean climates making it likely people with the Darnell surname have Southern French heritage. In other cases, people with the surname may have English heritage depending on the past spelling. It may refer to one of the following people:

Given name

Darnell

Darnell Bing Darnell Bing (born September 10, 1984) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Southern California. Bing has also been a member of th ...

(born 1984), American footballer *

Darnell Bristol Darnell "Dee" Bristol is a member of The Deele and a songwriter who co-wrote The Deele's "Two Occasions". Years later, he would be credited as a co-writer of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together", when Carey would be reusing portions of "Two Occasio ...

, songwriter and former member of The Deele *

Darnell Clash Darnell Clash (born June 18, 1962) is a former American football defensive back who played four seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the BC Lions and Toronto Argonauts. He played college football at the University of Wyoming. Coll ...

(born 1962), American football player *

Darnell Coles Darnell Coles (born June 2, 1962) is an American professional baseball player and current hitting coach for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball primarily as a third baseman a ...

(born 1962), American baseball player,

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Darnell Dinkins Darnell Joseph Dinkins (born January 20, 1977) is a former American football coach and tight end. He played college football at the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football, Pittsburgh. In the NFL, Dinkins played for the New York Giants, Balti ...

(born 1977), American footballer *

Darnell Dockett Darnell Maurice Dockett (born May 27, 1981) is a former American football defensive end who had a ten-season career playing for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cardinals in the third round of th ...

(born 1981), American footballer *

Darnell Hillman Darnell "Dr. Dunk" Hillman (born August 29, 1949) is a former professional basketball player. Hillman graduated from Hiram W. Johnson High School. The 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) forward played college basketball at San Jose State University. Hill ...

(born 1949), American basketball player *

Darnell Hunt Darnell Hunt (born 1962) is an American sociologist and academic administrator. As of September 1, 2022, Darnell Hunt is UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost. He has served as the dean of Social Sciences at the University of California, ...

(born 1962), American sociologist *

Darnell Johnson Darnell Tobias Jack Johnson (born 3 September 1998) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defender (association football), defender for EFL League One club Fleetwood Town F.C., Fleetwood Town. Club career Af ...

(born 1998), English football (soccer) player *

Darnell King Darnell King (born September 23, 1990) is an American soccer player who currently plays for Phoenix Rising FC in the USL Championship. Career King played in forward for Tampa's Gaither High School, setting a school record with 71 points in a s ...

(born 1990), American soccer player *

Darnell Martin Darnell Martin (born January 7, 1964) is an American television and film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Early life and education Martin was born in Bronx, New York, the daughter of Marilyn, a dancer of Irish-American descent, and a ...

(born 1964), African-American film director *

Darnell McDonald Darnell is a unisex given name and surname. The surname refers to a group of people in medieval ages who grew a plant called Darnel, which had intoxicatory properties. The last name originated in France, the plant can only grow in Mediterranean clim ...

(born 1978), American baseball player *

Darnell Mooney Darnell Mooney (born October 29, 1997) is an American football wide receiver for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tulane. High School career Darnell Mooney went to Gadsden City High School ...

(born 1997), American football player *

Darnell Nurse Darnell Nurse (born February 4, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nurse was selected by the Oilers seventh overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Dr ...

(born 1995), Canadian ice hockey player *

Darnell Savage Darnell Henry Savage Jr. (born July 30, 1997) is an American football free safety for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Maryland, and was drafted by the Packers in the first round of the ...

(born 1997), American football player *

Darnell Swallow ''Big Brother 2008'', also known as ''Big Brother 9'', was the ninth series of the British reality television series ''Big Brother (British TV series), Big Brother''. The show followed twenty-one contestants, known as housemates, who were isolate ...

, a contestant on the 2008 series of ''Big Brother'' (UK) *

Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wic ...

(born 1959), American basketball player *

Darnell Williams Darnell Williams (born 3 March 1955) is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera '' All My Children'' from 1981 to 1988, and from 2008 to 2011, a role which has earned him two Day ...

(born 1955), American actor *

Darnell Wilson Darnell Wilson (born September 22, 1974) is an American boxer. He challenged once for the WBA World Cruiserweight title in 2008. He is perhaps best remembered for his brutal left-hook knockouts of Emmanuel Nwodo and David Rodriguez. Backgro ...

(born 1974), American boxer

Darnelle

Darnelle Bailey-King Darnelle Bailey-King (born 17 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Rotherham United. Career Bailey-King made his professional debut for Rotherham United on 7 May 2016 against Hull C ...

(born 1997), English footballer

As a surname

Billy Darnell Billy Darnell (February 25, 1926 – September 7, 2007) was an American professional wrestler and major star of the 1940s and 1950s, with his career spanning over twenty years with championships in the National Wrestling Alliance and World W ...

(1926-2007), American professional wrestler *

Bruce Darnell Bruce Darnell (born July 19, 1957) is an American choreographer, model and television personality based in Germany. Darnell was born and grew up in Colorado. After studying sociology, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served six years as a par ...

(born 1957), American model and choreographer *

Eric Darnell Eric Darnell (born August 21, 1961) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, screenwriter, songwriter and occasional voice actor best known for co-directing ''Antz'' with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing and co-writing ''Madagas ...

(born 1961), American film director *

Erik Darnell Erik Darnell (born December 2, 1982) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is the grandson of former USAC and NASCAR driver Bay Darnell, who also started three NASCAR races (including one for Holman Moody). Darnell formerly dro ...

(born 1982), American stock car racing driver *

Gary Darnell Gary Brent Darnell (born October 15, 1948) is a former American football player and coach at the college level. Darnell is native of Arkansas and an alumnus of Oklahoma State University, where he played college football. A long-time defensive co ...

(born 1948), American College football player and coach *

James E. Darnell James Edwin Darnell Jr. (born September 9, 1930, Columbus, Mississippi) is an American biologist who made significant contributions to RNA processing and cytokine signaling and is author of the cell biology textbook ''Molecular Cell Biology''. ...

, American biologist *

Jean Darnell Jean Jarratt Darnell (1889 – January 20, 1961) was an American silent film actress who had a brief career between 1912 and 1913. In 1913, Darnell was a leading woman for the Thanhouser studio. She also acted for the Kalem Company The K ...

(1889-1961), American silent film actress *

Larry Darnell Larry Darnell (born Leo Edward Donald, Jr.; December 17, 1928, Columbus, Ohio – July 3, 1983, Columbus) was a successful American singer, who was instrumental in the formation of the New Orleans style of R&B in the late 1940s and early 1950s ...

(1928-1983), American singer *

Linda Darnell Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...

(1923-1965), American film actress *

Mike Darnell Michael H. Darnell (born 1962) is an American television executive and former child actor. He is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as president of alternat ...

(born 1962), American television executive *

Nicholas Henry Darnell Nicholas Henry Darnell (April 20, 1807 – July 16, 1885) was an American politician in Tennessee and Texas. He was the only person to serve as speaker (politics), Speaker of the House of the Republic of Texas Republic of Texas House of Represent ...

(1807-1885), American politician *

Regna Darnell Regna Darnell (born July 10, 1943, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American-Canadian anthropologist and professor of Anthropology and First Nations Studies at the University of Western Ontario, where she has founded the First Nations Studies Program. Ov ...

(born 1943), American-Canadian anthropologist and professor *

Riley Darnell Riley Carlisle Darnell (May 13, 1940 – October 2, 2020) was an American politician and lawyer who served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from the 67th district, Tennessee Senate from the 22nd district, Majority Leader of the Tenne ...

(born 1940), American politician, Secretary of State for the state of Tennessee * Robert Darnell (born 1957), American biologist and President of the

New York Genome Center The New York Genome Center (NYGC) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic research institution in New York, New York. It serves as a multi-institutional collaborative hub focused on the advancement of genomic science and its application ...

Fictional characters

Darnell Turner The NBC sitcom television series ''My Name Is Earl'' created by Greg Garcia features a variety of characters, most of whom live in the fictional town of Camden and Camden County. The show centers on Earl Hickey, a small-time crook who after an e ...

, a character from the American television show

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Jaso ...

, played by

Eddie Steeples Eddie Steeples (born November 25, 1973) is an American actor known for his roles as the "Rubberband Man" in an advertising campaign for OfficeMax, Cal in ''Would You Rather'', and as Darnell Turner on the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl''. Life and ...

* Darnelle, a character from the 2005 film ''

Beauty Shop ''Beauty Shop'' is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Bille Woodruff. The film serves as a Spin-off (media), spin-off of the ''Barbershop (film), Barbershop'' film franchise, and stars Queen Latifah as Gina, a character first introduced in t ...

'', played by

Keshia Knight Pulliam Keshia Knight Pulliam (born April 9, 1979) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor, and landed her breakthrough role as Rudy Huxtable, on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), which earned her a nomination for O ...

* Darnelle, a character from the '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' episode, "The Dirty Half Dozen", played by

Charles Mesure Charles William David Mesure (born 12 August 1970) is an English Australian actor known for his work in Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. Birth and education Mesure was born in Somerset, England. When he was five, his fami ...

*Darnell, a

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I ...

character created by

Tom Fulp Thomas Charles Fulp (born April 30, 1978) is an American programmer known for creating the website Newgrounds and co-founding the video game company The Behemoth. He has been credited with "changing the landscape of the Internet forever" by kic ...

Places

Darnell may also refer to; * Darnell, Ohio, an unincorporated community *

Darnell Town, Virginia Darnell Town is an unincorporated community in Lee County, Virginia, in the United States. It is part of the Keokee census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census B ...

, a community in the United States {{surname Given names English given names English-language unisex given names