Tennyson
Masculine · “son of Dennis”
Tennyson is given to both — 1,188 boys and 398 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Tennyson means son of Dennis, and Dennis is Dionysius — the god of wine, worn down through Greek and French into an ordinary English surname.
How old is the name Tennyson?
Tennyson first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Tennyson alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,000 people named Tennyson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tennyson most popular?
Tennyson peaked in 1915, reaching #2184 nationally. Today it ranks #4396, 2,212 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dionysios to Tennyson
The story of Tennyson
Dionysius was a common late Roman name and became Christian through Denis of Paris, who is said to have carried his own head after his execution. English wore it to Dennis and made the pet form Tenney, and sons of a Tenney became Tennysons. Alfred Tennyson was Poet Laureate for forty-two years, and the given name follows him almost entirely.
Meaning
son of Dennis
From the medieval English pet form Tenney, standing for Dennis, from Greek Dionysios, of Dionysus. The god's name is at the bottom of one of the plainest English surnames, which is not obvious from either end.
How the name formed
- Dionysios
- Dennis
- Tenney
- Tennyson
Related forms: Dennison · Denis · Dionysios
Pronouncing Tennyson
TEN-ih-sun
Three syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Tennyson
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 201448 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2184reached in 1915
- Change vs 2023
- +9.5%23 in 2025, from 21
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.
Tennyson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dennison in English — related form
- Denis in French — related form
- Dionysios in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, North Carolina.
Tennysons among us
people named Tennyson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 74,264 born in 2025 was named Tennyson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Tennyson 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
Tennyson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tennyson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely surprising god at the bottom of it.
- Tenny is a warm short form with real medieval history.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- The poet is the strongest association and it is a large one.
- Nine letters and three syllables is a great deal for early handwriting.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
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What they receive
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Tennyson
Masculine · #4396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tennysons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Tennyson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tennyson in 2025?
- Tennyson ranks #4396 among US boy names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tennyson?
- About 1 in every 74,264 US boys born in 2025 was named Tennyson — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tennyson with classmates?
- Tennyson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tennyson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odell#4396 · Corwin#4396 · Marques#4396 · Manu#4396 · Omid#4396 · Zackariah#4396 · Azeem#4396 · Burton#4396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tennyson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tennyson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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