Why is it der Darling?

Darling ends in -ling, and most nouns ending in -ling are masculine: in a German dictionary, 82% of them take der.

All nouns ending in -ling
Sense 1
der

Meaning

[1] Salutation and nickname for a person you like to have

[1] Anrede und Kosename für einen Menschen, den man gern hat

Examples

[1] Darling, you want my wife to become

[1] Darling, möchtest du meine Frau werden?

Declension

1 Singular Plural
Nominativ der Darling die Darlings
Genitiv des Darlings der Darlings
Dativ dem Darling den Darlings
Akkusativ den Darling die Darlings

Pronunciation

Dictionary entries include material from Wiktionary. Wiktionary