Denali
Denali is given to both girls and boys: 78 girls and 31 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,338 among girls’ names and #3,595 among boys’, #3,339 among all names counting both); 2,479 Americans have been recorded with it since 1977 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,460 Americans named Denali and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 6 and 21.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Denali by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Denali?
#2,338 among girls’ names, 2025
Denali rose from #2,785 in 2015 to #2,338 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 35.3 to 48.5 per million.
135 babies in 2022, the peak
Denali peaked in 2022, when 135 babies were given it (94 girls, #2,053 among girls’ names). The 109 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 81% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 78 | #2,338 | 31 | #3,595 |
| 2024 | 91 | #2,106 | 24 | #4,344 |
| 2023 | 77 | #2,358 | 42 | #2,961 |
| 2022 | 94 | #2,053 | 41 | #3,014 |
| 2021 | 88 | #2,135 | 40 | #3,030 |
| 2020 | 71 | #2,447 | 15 | #5,773 |
| 2019 | 67 | #2,607 | 28 | #3,820 |
| 2018 | 80 | #2,280 | 19 | #4,969 |
| 2017 | 66 | #2,639 | 21 | #4,632 |
| 2016 | 63 | #2,746 | 25 | #4,123 |
Every recorded year (40)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 63 | #2,785 | 29 | #3,712 |
| 2014 | 56 | #3,013 | 20 | #4,737 |
| 2013 | 62 | #2,776 | 11 | #7,144 |
| 2012 | 48 | #3,381 | 22 | #4,424 |
| 2011 | 45 | #3,508 | 13 | #6,321 |
| 2010 | 42 | #3,699 | 20 | #4,712 |
| 2009 | 54 | #3,130 | 15 | #5,870 |
| 2008 | 55 | #3,087 | 22 | #4,431 |
| 2007 | 43 | #3,731 | 26 | #3,923 |
| 2006 | 57 | #2,992 | 31 | #3,399 |
| 2005 | 51 | #3,089 | 41 | #2,669 |
| 2004 | 56 | #2,859 | 31 | #3,170 |
| 2003 | 46 | #3,192 | 33 | #2,938 |
| 2002 | 50 | #2,942 | 29 | #3,121 |
| 2001 | 44 | #3,151 | 17 | #4,526 |
| 2000 | 40 | #3,342 | 8 | #7,605 |
| 1999 | 17 | #5,985 | 12 | #5,388 |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,423 | 7 | #7,762 |
| 1997 | 30 | #3,730 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 18 | #5,336 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 21 | #4,713 | 6 | #8,047 |
| 1994 | 23 | #4,402 | 5 | #9,149 |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,734 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 20 | #4,895 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 6 | #11,883 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,494 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 14 | #5,902 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,696 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,164 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 5 | #9,978 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Denali a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,479 Americans recorded as Denali, 72% are girls and 28% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Denali: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Denali, and how old are they?
2,460 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,479 Americans ever recorded as Denali. The median Denali alive today is 13 years old; half are between 6 and 21.
The 2020 Census counted 1,660 people named Denali (1,211 women and girls, 449 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,793 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 145 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,010 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,290 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Denali born?
The states with the most babies named Denali are Texas, Georgia and Washington, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Washington is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 10 | #2,078 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 7 | #1,248 | 0.1× |
| Washington | 6 | #953 | 0.1× |
Where Denali is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Denali is most over-represented in Alaska: since 1977 it was given 15.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Denali with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 2,769 babies since 1880, Denali is the most given (90% of them). In 2025 it was given to 109 of their 125 babies (87%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Denali
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Denali and names like it
- Compare Denali and DenylaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sDenali peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Denali since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Denali.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Denali alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with DMost given first.