US Name Trends

Dennis

Greek Dionysios, “of Dionysus,” the god of wine.

1952peak year
No. 16best rank (1949)
623,692babies since 1880
No. 707rank in 2025

Popularity, 1880–2025

Babies named Dennis per year — peak 24,552▬ girls ▬ boys18801900192019401960198020002020

Dennis appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American boys in every year from 1934 to 1984. Its biggest year was 1952, when 24,552 newborn boys received the name, ranking it No. 18 nationally. Its best ranking came in 1949, at No. 16. In 2025 it ranked No. 707 for boys. All told, 623,692 Americans have been given the name since 1880.

Related names

Other spellings on record: Denise (374,789), Denis (21,606), Denice (10,649), Denisse (7,370), Dennise (3,571), Deniz (2,122) (total births since 1880)

Explore Dennis interactively →

By the decade

DecadeBirthsBest rank
1880s1,107No. 105
1890s919No. 138
1900s988No. 158
1910s4,166No. 187
1920s8,145No. 154
1930s26,366No. 34
1940s162,114No. 16
1950s204,267No. 17
1960s94,984No. 31
1970s50,552No. 46
1980s30,463No. 80
1990s18,101No. 129
2000s10,445No. 251
2010s5,977No. 391
2020s2,406No. 644

Births and rank shown for boys, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.

🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper

Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.