Denise
Feminine · “of Dionysus”
Denise is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 373,422 girls against 1,367 boys since 1880. See Denise as a boy name
Denise ends in three letters that English reads three different ways. The same -ise closes rise, promise and expertise, and each one takes a different sound; nothing in the spelling says which, and a reader meeting an unfamiliar word has to guess. This name takes the third reading, which is the French one.
How old is the name Denise?
Denise first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Denise alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 330,000 people named Denise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denise most popular?
Denise peaked in 1955, reaching #23 nationally. Today it ranks #1673, 1,650 places below that high. See the whole 1955 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Greek name meaning belonging to Dionysus to Denise
The story of Denise
One bearer of the parent name did something with unusually long consequences. A monk working in Rome in the sixth century was asked to produce new tables for calculating Easter, and he decided to number the years from the incarnation rather than from the reign of an emperor he considered a persecutor. That decision is why the current year has the number it does. His arithmetic is now thought to be several years out, which means the era named for the birth almost certainly does not start at it, and there is no year zero in his scheme because he was counting in a system that had no zero to count with. Both problems were noticed early and neither has ever been worth fixing.
Meaning
of Dionysus
The name descends from a Greek personal name meaning belonging to the god, and the reading is settled. The French feminine ending contributes affection and grammar rather than sense. That an early Christian name should be built on a pagan god's is not an anomaly: the name was ordinary in the Greek world and the church absorbed it along with the people who carried it.
How the name formed
- A Greek name meaning belonging to Dionysus
- Carried by early Christians across the Mediterranean
- Denis in French, with a saint attached
- Denise as the French feminine, borrowed into English
Related forms: Denise · Dionisia · Dionisia
Pronouncing Denise
duh-NEES
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Some American families say duh-NEEZ with a voiced ending, which is closer to English habit than to French; both are in genuine use here.
Nicknames for Denise
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 196015,066 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #23reached in 1955
- Change vs 2022
- −25.5%123 in 2025, from 165
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.
Denise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denise in French — same name
- Dionisia in Italian — related form
- Dionisia in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Denises among us
people named Denise are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 13,067 born in 2025 was named Denise
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 Ruby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Denise's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ruby climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ruby's path sketches the road Denise is walking now.
Denise 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 Denise is headed
Denise is easing off slowly — about 26% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Denise beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Denise in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is universally familiar across English and French alike.
- Dee is available immediately and is a complete name on its own.
- The name is used unchanged in France, which is a real range.
- The ending is said two ways in America and neither is wrong.
- It is closely tied to one mid-century American generation.
- The spelling appears on the register for both sexes in small numbers.
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What they receive
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Denise
Feminine · #1673 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Denises are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 330,000 people named Denise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Denise in 2025?
- Denise ranks #1673 among US girl names in 2025, with 123 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Denise?
- About 1 in every 13,067 US girls born in 2025 was named Denise — 123 in all.
- Will my child share the name Denise with classmates?
- Denise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Denise
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vamika#1673 · Kalilah#1673 · Camellia#1673 · Miya#1673 · Maylin#1673 · Alannah#1673 · Adrienne#1673 · Shoshana#1673
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denise? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Denise and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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