Dennis
Masculine · “of Dionysus”
Dennis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 621,000 boys against 2,692 girls since 1880. See Dennis as a girl name
Dennis is one of very few English names taken directly from a pagan god. Not filtered through a saint's biography or a place, but built on the god's own name — Dionysus, the god of wine and theater and losing control — and carried by bishops and schoolboys ever since without anyone remarking on it.
How old is the name Dennis?
Dennis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Dennis alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 422,000 people named Dennis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dennis most popular?
Dennis peaked in 1949, reaching #16 nationally. Today it ranks #707, 691 places below that high. See the whole 1949 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dionysios to Dennis
The story of Dennis
Early Christians took Greek names as they found them, and a great many of them were theophoric — built on a god. Dionysios, Apollonios, Hermas, Demetrios and Olympias all came into the church attached to Olympian gods and stayed. Nobody appears to have found it a problem, partly because the names had long since become ordinary and partly because there were saints of each. Dennis is the English form, and the doubled n is an English decision: French writes Denis with one, and the two spellings have coexisted here since the Middle Ages.
Meaning
of Dionysus
The Greek Dionysios means belonging to Dionysus, and it was an ordinary Greek personal name before any Christian carried it. The god is not incidental to the name; he is its whole content.
How the name formed
- Dionysios
- Denis
- Dennis
Related forms: Denis · Dionigi · Dionisio · Denis · Dionizy
Pronouncing Dennis
DEN-iss
Two syllables with the weight at the front. French says duh-NEE with the final consonant silent, and Russian keeps the s.
Nicknames for Dennis
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
- 195124,264 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #16reached in 1949
- Change vs 2022
- −9.9%381 in 2025, from 423
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.
Dennis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Denis in French — same name
- Dionigi in Italian — same name
- Dionisio in Spanish — same name
- Denis in Russian — transliteration
- Dionizy in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Denniss among us
people named Dennis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 4,483 born in 2025 was named Dennis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Dennis
- #707
- Dennis on the 2025 chart
- #491
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Dennis went to 381 boys in 2025, but Denis, 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 — 216 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 3,193 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,483 for Dennis 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 Raymond test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dennis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Raymond climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Raymond's path sketches the road Dennis is walking now.
Dennis has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Dennis is headed
Dennis should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Dennis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dennis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing.
- It has a form in French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Polish.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- Den and Denny are established short forms with different registers.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the twentieth century.
- One long-running comic strip has attached a particular boy to the name.
- Denis with one n is standard in France and will be written for you.
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What they receive
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Dennis
Masculine · #707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Denniss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 422,000 people named Dennis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Dennis?
- Dennis is the most-used spelling in US records — 381 of the 535 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Denis, Deniz and Denys.
- How popular is the name Dennis in 2025?
- Dennis ranks #707 among US boy names in 2025, with 381 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dennis?
- About 1 in every 4,483 US boys born in 2025 was named Dennis — 381 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dennis with classmates?
- Dennis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dennis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ozias#707 · Julien#709 · Layton#710 · Carmelo#710 · Kenai#710 · Aarav#710 · Aron#710 · Bryer#703
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dennis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dennis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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