Denis
Masculine · “of Dionysus”
Denis is given to both — 20,733 boys and 873 girls since 1880. See Denis as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Denis is Dionysius worn down by fifteen hundred years of French. The saint who carries it was beheaded on the hill above Paris, and the story says he picked up his own head and walked several miles, preaching the whole way — which is why the hill is called Montmartre, why there is a basilica at the end of the walk, and why he is the patron of France.
How old is the name Denis?
Denis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Denis alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 14,500 people named Denis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denis most popular?
Denis peaked in 1952, reaching #277 nationally. Today it ranks #1708, 1,431 places below that high. See the whole 1952 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dionysios to Denis
The story of Denis
Denis was the first bishop of Paris, martyred in the third century, and the story of the walk from Montmartre made him one of the most vivid figures in French Christianity. The abbey built where he is said to have stopped became the burial church of nearly every French king. His name became one of the standard French men's names and traveled with French speakers everywhere — to Ireland, to Quebec, to Louisiana. American records carry it from the beginning, and the single-s spelling is the French one, which is why it looks incomplete to English eyes.
Meaning
of Dionysus
From the Greek Dionysios, belonging to Dionysus, the god of wine and of theater. Names built on gods were entirely ordinary in the Greek world and carried no particular devotion by the time Christians were using them — which is why a great many early saints have names honoring gods they did not worship.
How the name formed
- Dionysios
- Dionysius
- Denis
Related forms: Denis · Denis · Dionigi · Dionisio · Donnchadh
Pronouncing Denis
DEN-iss
Two syllables in American English, stress on the first, the s sounded. French says it duh-NEE, with the stress at the back and the final s entirely silent — which is a genuinely different name to the ear and the reason the spelling looks the way it does.
Nicknames for Denis
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1954574 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #277reached in 1952
- Change vs 2022
- −6.9%95 in 2025, from 102
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.
Denis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denis in French — same name
- Denis in Russian — same name
- Dionigi in Italian — same name
- Dionisio in Spanish — same name
- Donnchadh in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, New York.
Deniss among us
people named Denis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,980 born in 2025 was named Denis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Denis
- #1708
- Denis on the 2025 chart
- #491
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Denis went to 95 boys in 2025, but Dennis, Deniz and Denys are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 535, which makes it the 491st most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,217 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 3,193 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,980 for Denis 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 Herschel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Denis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Herschel climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Herschel's path sketches the road Denis is walking now.
Denis 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
Where Denis is headed
Denis 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.
Denis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Denis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the standard French and Russian spelling rather than a shortened English one.
- The saint behind it has one of the most memorable stories in European hagiography.
- Five letters, two syllables, and nothing difficult in any language.
- Dennis sits beside it as a fallback that requires no explanation.
- Americans will write Dennis with two n's and two s's, and the correction is permanent.
- French relatives will say the name in a way American ones will not recognize.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the record's girls are very few.
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What they receive
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Denis
Masculine · #1708 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Deniss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,500 people named Denis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Denis?
- Denis is one of 4 recorded spellings. Dennis is the more common one — 381 births in 2025 against 95 for Denis.
- How popular is the name Denis in 2025?
- Denis ranks #1708 among US boy names in 2025, with 95 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Denis?
- About 1 in every 17,980 US boys born in 2025 was named Denis — 95 in all.
- Will my child share the name Denis with classmates?
- Denis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Denis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Antoine#1708 · Kainoa#1708 · Henri#1708 · Azir#1708 · Koast#1708 · Ayansh#1708 · Zuriel#1708 · Marlo#1708
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Denis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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