Denice
Feminine · “of Dionysos”
Denice descends from a god of wine. Dionysos was the Greek deity of the vine and of the theater, and his name produced Dionysius, which produced a saint who became the patron of France, which produced Denis and then Denise. The c in this spelling makes the final consonant explicit, which the s does not.
How old is the name Denice?
Denice first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Denice alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 9,300 people named Denice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denice most popular?
Denice peaked in 1954, reaching #411 nationally. See the whole 1954 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dionysios to Denice
The story of Denice
Saint Denis was the first bishop of Paris and was martyred on the hill now called Montmartre — the mount of the martyr — and the abbey built over his grave became the burial church of the kings of France. That made Denis one of the great French names, and the feminine followed. English took Denise in the twentieth century and used it heavily for a few decades. The c spelling is an American variation that solves a real ambiguity: an s between two vowels is usually said as a z in English, and the c can only be said one way.
Meaning
of Dionysos
Dionysios means belonging to Dionysos, and the god's own name is older than Greek — the first element is generally connected to the divine name that gives Zeus, and the second has never been recovered, which suggests the god arrived from somewhere else. So the name's meaning is secure and the god's is not. Denise is the French feminine of Denis, which is the French form of Dionysius, and the chain has no gaps in it.
How the name formed
- Dionysios
- Dionysius
- Denis
- Denise
- Denice
Related forms: Denise · Dionysia · Dionisia · Dionisia
Pronouncing Denice
duh-NEECE
duh-NEECE, two syllables, stress at the back, the ending a crisp s rather than a z. That is the whole point of the c: Denise is regularly said duh-NEEZ, and this spelling forecloses it.
Nicknames for Denice
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1921
- Most girls named
- 1957450 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #411reached in 1954
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%6 in 2024, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Denice in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denise in French — same name
- Dionysia in Greek — related form
- Dionisia in Spanish — related form
- Dionisia in Italian — related form
Denices among us
people named Denice are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Denice sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The c removes a genuine ambiguity about the final consonant, which the standard spelling does not.
- Dee and Niecy are both usable short forms and they sound quite different.
- The line back to the Greek god is unbroken and fully documented.
- Denise is the standard spelling and this will be rewritten as that on most documents.
- The name is strongly tied to one American generation and dates a person fairly closely.
- Denice, Denyse and Danice are all in use, so the spelling gets dictated.
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Denice
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Denices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,300 people named Denice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Denice in 2025?
- Denice is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Denice with classmates?
- Denice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denice? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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