Denilson
Masculine · “Formed on Denis”
Denilson is Brazilian: a Portuguese first name with an English -son ending stuck on it, a formation that Brazil has been making for a century and that produces Edilson, Nilson, Robson and Denilson. It is not a surname and never was one.
How old is the name Denilson?
Denilson first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Denilson alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 700 people named Denilson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denilson most popular?
Denilson peaked in 1998, reaching #1700 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 3,508 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dionysius to Denilson
Our story of Denilson
Brazilian naming took the English -son ending in the early twentieth century and made it native. Wilson and Nelson arrived first as borrowed surnames — Woodrow Wilson was president when Brazilian families began using them — and once the sound was familiar it detached from the English names and became a suffix that could be attached to anything: Edilson, Adilson, Robson, Nilson, Anderson, Denilson. The result is a stock of names that look English to an English speaker and are unmistakably Brazilian to a Brazilian. Denilson belongs squarely to it. Its arrival in American records in the 1990s follows Brazilian migration, and its peak in 1998 falls in the year Denílson de Oliveira Araújo left São Paulo for Real Betis in what was then the most expensive transfer in football history, and played in the World Cup final.
Meaningscholars disagree
Formed on Denis, whose root is the god Dionysus
The first element is Denis or Danilo, and Denis descends from Dionysius, belonging to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine — a settled etymology for that name. The -son ending is a different matter: in Brazilian Portuguese it is a productive suffix borrowed from English surnames and carries no sense of son of. Denilson as a whole has no meaning; it has two halves, one of which has a history.
How the name formed
- Dionysius
- Denis
- Denilson
Related forms: Denílson · Denilson · Denis · Dennis
Pronouncing Denilson
deh-NEEL-son
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the acute accent Portuguese writes as Denílson. American records drop the accent, which moves the stress forward for English readers to DEN-il-son.
Nicknames for Denilson
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
- 1997
- Most boys named
- 200264 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1700reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −28.0%18 in 2025, from 25
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.
Denilson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denílson in Portuguese — same name
- Denilson in Spanish — same name
- Denis in French — related form
- Dennis in English — related form
Denilsons among us
people named Denilson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Denilson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vinny test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Denilson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vinny climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vinny's path sketches the road Denilson is walking now.
Denilson sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Denilson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Denilson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is instantly readable to an English speaker despite being wholly Brazilian.
- Dennis and Deni are both available as everyday forms.
- The -son ending makes it feel familiar without being common.
- American records drop the accent, and without it the stress is misplaced.
- It looks like a surname to anyone who does not know the Brazilian pattern.
- The name as a whole has no meaning to explain, only two halves.
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What they receive
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Denilson
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Denilsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Denilson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Denilson in 2025?
- Denilson ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Denilson?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Denilson — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Denilson with classmates?
- Denilson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Denilson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denilson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Denilson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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