Denim
Masculine · “from the fabric”
Denim is given to both — 2,721 boys and 1,122 girls since 1880. See Denim as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Denim comes from a French phrase worn smooth by use: serge de Nîmes, the tough cotton twill named for the city of Nîmes in southern France. The words reached English in the late seventeenth century, lost their middle, and became one syllable pair that nearly everyone in the country can already spell. As a given name it is genuinely new, and its wave is a recent one — most people carrying it are still children.
How old is the name Denim?
Denim first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Denim is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,700 people named Denim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denim most popular?
Denim peaked in 2025, reaching #880 nationally. Today it ranks #880, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Denim appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Nemausus to Denim
The story of Denim
Nîmes, in the Languedoc, has been a working city since Roman times, and by the seventeenth century it was known for a hard-wearing twill sold across Europe as serge de Nîmes. English speakers clipped the phrase down to denim, and in the nineteenth century the cloth became the fabric of American work trousers — which is how a French place name ended up on the label of nearly every pair of jeans. Its use as a personal name is a modern American development, part of the same habit that turned other everyday English words into given names, and it has been on the boys' side of the records since the early 1970s. The recent climb has been steady and quick, with the firmest footing in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia.
Meaning
from the fabric, literally 'of Nîmes' (a city in southern France)
Denim is a contraction of French serge de Nîmes, 'serge cloth of Nîmes'. The city's own name goes back to the Roman Nemausus, itself from a Gaulish word — so the fabric, and the name, trace back through Latin to a much older layer of language.
How the name formed
- Nemausus
- Nîmes
- serge de Nîmes
- denim
- Denim
Pronouncing Denim
DEN-im
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the fabric. There is no second pronunciation to correct, and no silent letters — a rare thing among newer names.
Nicknames for Denim
High
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
- 1973
- Most boys named
- 2025271 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #880reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +39.7%271 in 2025, from 194
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.
Denim in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Louisiana, Georgia.
Denims among us
people named Denim are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,303 born in 2025 was named Denim
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Denim
- #880
- Denim on the 2025 chart
- #626
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Denim went to 271 boys in 2025, but Denym is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 320, which makes it the 626th most-given boys’ name of the year — 254 places above the chart.
- Denim271
- Denym49
About 1 boy in 5,338 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,303 for Denim itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vinson test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Denim's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vinson climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vinson's path sketches the road Denim is walking now.
Denim is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Denim is headed
Denim should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Denim beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Denim in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone already knows how to spell it, because the word is printed inside most people's clothes.
- One pronunciation only, with the stress where every English speaker will put it.
- Short forms are ready-made: Den and Denny have been in use for generations through Dennis.
- Two syllables ending in a soft consonant, which pairs cleanly with most one- and three-syllable surnames.
- Rare enough in classrooms that a child is unlikely to share it with anyone.
- It is still a common noun. Most people will hear the fabric first, and jokes about jeans are the likeliest form that takes — usually affectionate, but worth expecting.
- There is no long personal history behind it: no saints, no kings, no namesake generations. For families who want a name with ancestors in it, that absence matters.
- It is rising quickly and is strongest in a few southern states, so it may feel more familiar in some parts of the country than others, and more common by the time your child reaches school than it is now.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Denim to the vote.
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What they receive
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Denim
Masculine · #880 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Denims are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Denim are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Denim?
- Denim is the most-used spelling in US records — 271 of the 320 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Denym.
- How popular is the name Denim in 2025?
- Denim ranks #880 among US boy names in 2025, with 271 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Denim?
- About 1 in every 6,303 US boys born in 2025 was named Denim — 271 in all.
- Will my child share the name Denim with classmates?
- Denim will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Denim
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jireh#880 · Eren#882 · Ernesto#878 · Kylen#878 · Emory#883 · Trey#883 · Kolson#883 · Izan#883
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denim? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Denim and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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