Denise
Masculine · “of Dionysus”
Denise is given to girls far more often — 373,422 girls against 1,367 boys since 1880. See Denise as a girl 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 1939 — 86 years ago. The typical Denise alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 1,200 people named Denise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Denise most popular?
Denise peaked in 1964, reaching #1016 nationally. See the whole 1964 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
- 1939
- Most boys named
- 195856 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1016reached in 1964
- Change vs 2002
- −16.7%5 in 2021, 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.
Denise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denise in French — same name
- Dionisia in Italian — related form
- Dionisia in Spanish — related form
Denises among us
people named Denise 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
Denise 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 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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Denise
Masculine
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 1,200 people named Denise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Denise in 2025?
- Denise is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Denise with classmates?
- Denise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
David#35 · Daniel#22 · Donald#690 · Dennis#707 · Douglas#807 · Dylan#41 · Danny#628 · Dale#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Denise? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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