Dennis
Dennis was given to 381 boys in 2025, #707 among boys’ names; 623,692 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 399,000 Americans named Dennis and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (64% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 55 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dennis by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dennis mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dennis is “a male given name from Ancient Greek.”
From Middle English Denis, from Old French saint’s name Denis, brought to England by Normans; from Latin Dionysius, a masculine name literally meaning “follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”.
/ˈdɛnɪs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dennis?
#707 among boys’ names, 2025
Dennis fell from #494 in 2015 to #707 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.31 to 0.22 per 1,000.
24,605 babies in 1952, the peak
Dennis peaked in 1952, when 24,605 babies were given it (24,552 boys, #18 among boys’ names). The 381 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 381 | #707 | 0.22 |
| 2024 | 376 | #709 | 0.22 |
| 2023 | 427 | #644 | 0.25 |
| 2022 | 423 | #652 | 0.24 |
| 2021 | 385 | #690 | 0.22 |
| 2020 | 414 | #647 | 0.24 |
| 2019 | 510 | #553 | 0.28 |
| 2018 | 497 | #556 | 0.27 |
| 2017 | 516 | #545 | 0.28 |
| 2016 | 587 | #510 | 0.31 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 592 | #494 | 0.31 |
| 2014 | 578 | #486 | 0.30 |
| 2013 | 625 | #454 | 0.33 |
| 2012 | 661 | #424 | 0.35 |
| 2011 | 685 | #413 | 0.36 |
| 2010 | 726 | #391 | 0.38 |
| 2009 | 845 | #362 | 0.43 |
| 2008 | 833 | #368 | 0.41 |
| 2007 | 968 | #330 | 0.47 |
| 2006 | 1,029 | #313 | 0.50 |
| 2005 | 1,040 | #316 | 0.52 |
| 2004 | 1,017 | #308 | 0.51 |
| 2003 | 1,109 | #282 | 0.56 |
| 2002 | 1,081 | #280 | 0.56 |
| 2001 | 1,180 | #270 | 0.61 |
| 2000 | 1,343 | #251 | 0.68 |
| 1999 | 1,340 | #239 | 0.70 |
| 1998 | 1,318 | #238 | 0.69 |
| 1997 | 1,489 | #209 | 0.79 |
| 1996 | 1,540 | #203 | 0.81 |
| 1995 | 1,689 | #185 | 0.89 |
| 1994 | 1,788 | #177 | 0.93 |
| 1993 | 1,964 | #164 | 1.0 |
| 1992 | 2,165 | #150 | 1.1 |
| 1991 | 2,314 | #138 | 1.1 |
| 1990 | 2,494 | #129 | 1.2 |
| 1989 | 2,675 | #123 | 1.3 |
| 1988 | 2,652 | #116 | 1.4 |
| 1987 | 2,756 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1986 | 2,705 | #104 | 1.5 |
| 1985 | 2,845 | #103 | 1.5 |
| 1984 | 2,953 | #97 | 1.6 |
| 1983 | 3,047 | #92 | 1.7 |
| 1982 | 3,392 | #87 | 1.9 |
| 1981 | 3,634 | #83 | 2.0 |
| 1980 | 3,804 | #80 | 2.1 |
| 1979 | 4,080 | #75 | 2.4 |
| 1978 | 3,861 | #71 | 2.4 |
| 1977 | 4,152 | #68 | 2.5 |
| 1976 | 4,169 | #66 | 2.7 |
| 1975 | 4,730 | #59 | 3.0 |
| 1974 | 4,880 | #59 | 3.1 |
| 1973 | 5,176 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1972 | 5,608 | #52 | 3.5 |
| 1971 | 6,584 | #49 | 3.7 |
| 1970 | 7,312 | #46 | 3.9 |
| 1969 | 7,357 | #44 | 4.1 |
| 1968 | 7,403 | #45 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 7,636 | #43 | 4.4 |
| 1966 | 7,786 | #44 | 4.4 |
| 1965 | 8,215 | #44 | 4.4 |
| 1964 | 9,327 | #42 | 4.7 |
| 1963 | 9,821 | #39 | 4.8 |
| 1962 | 10,633 | #37 | 5.1 |
| 1961 | 12,503 | #34 | 5.9 |
| 1960 | 14,303 | #31 | 6.7 |
| 1959 | 16,043 | #29 | 7.5 |
| 1958 | 16,418 | #29 | 7.7 |
| 1957 | 16,917 | #28 | 7.8 |
| 1956 | 18,359 | #26 | 8.7 |
| 1955 | 20,436 | #23 | 9.9 |
| 1954 | 20,758 | #21 | 10.2 |
| 1953 | 23,658 | #19 | 12.0 |
| 1952 | 24,552 | #18 | 12.6 |
| 1951 | 24,264 | #17 | 12.9 |
| 1950 | 22,862 | #17 | 12.8 |
| 1949 | 21,746 | #16 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 21,765 | #17 | 12.4 |
| 1947 | 23,686 | #17 | 12.9 |
| 1946 | 21,447 | #17 | 13.2 |
| 1945 | 14,990 | #19 | 11.1 |
| 1944 | 13,676 | #20 | 10.0 |
| 1943 | 14,116 | #20 | 9.9 |
| 1942 | 13,281 | #20 | 9.6 |
| 1941 | 9,562 | #23 | 7.8 |
| 1940 | 7,845 | #24 | 6.8 |
| 1939 | 6,212 | #34 | 5.6 |
| 1938 | 4,236 | #49 | 3.8 |
| 1937 | 3,160 | #63 | 3.0 |
| 1936 | 2,627 | #74 | 2.5 |
| 1935 | 2,597 | #72 | 2.5 |
| 1934 | 2,053 | #95 | 2.0 |
| 1933 | 1,685 | #106 | 1.7 |
| 1932 | 1,421 | #121 | 1.4 |
| 1931 | 1,202 | #138 | 1.2 |
| 1930 | 1,173 | #145 | 1.1 |
| 1929 | 997 | #154 | 0.93 |
| 1928 | 957 | #159 | 0.86 |
| 1927 | 919 | #165 | 0.82 |
| 1926 | 838 | #173 | 0.75 |
| 1925 | 826 | #177 | 0.74 |
| 1924 | 807 | #178 | 0.71 |
| 1923 | 773 | #181 | 0.71 |
| 1922 | 677 | #198 | 0.62 |
| 1921 | 727 | #190 | 0.66 |
| 1920 | 624 | #207 | 0.59 |
| 1919 | 626 | #202 | 0.64 |
| 1918 | 637 | #203 | 0.63 |
| 1917 | 582 | #199 | 0.63 |
| 1916 | 532 | #206 | 0.60 |
| 1915 | 514 | #209 | 0.61 |
| 1914 | 382 | #212 | 0.58 |
| 1913 | 324 | #205 | 0.63 |
| 1912 | 268 | #206 | 0.62 |
| 1911 | 166 | #189 | 0.73 |
| 1910 | 135 | #196 | 0.70 |
| 1909 | 120 | #187 | 0.73 |
| 1908 | 101 | #200 | 0.65 |
| 1907 | 111 | #191 | 0.76 |
| 1906 | 89 | #198 | 0.67 |
| 1905 | 106 | #179 | 0.80 |
| 1904 | 90 | #196 | 0.70 |
| 1903 | 75 | #206 | 0.63 |
| 1902 | 85 | #194 | 0.69 |
| 1901 | 79 | #183 | 0.74 |
| 1900 | 132 | #158 | 0.88 |
| 1899 | 86 | #169 | 0.81 |
| 1898 | 99 | #166 | 0.81 |
| 1897 | 96 | #162 | 0.85 |
| 1896 | 90 | #179 | 0.75 |
| 1895 | 108 | #142 | 0.92 |
| 1894 | 84 | #179 | 0.73 |
| 1893 | 83 | #172 | 0.74 |
| 1892 | 82 | #191 | 0.67 |
| 1891 | 89 | #147 | 0.88 |
| 1890 | 102 | #139 | 0.92 |
| 1889 | 111 | #128 | 1.0 |
| 1888 | 106 | #145 | 0.88 |
| 1887 | 93 | #139 | 0.92 |
| 1886 | 98 | #138 | 0.88 |
| 1885 | 112 | #122 | 1.0 |
| 1884 | 113 | #127 | 1.0 |
| 1883 | 112 | #115 | 1.1 |
| 1882 | 135 | #108 | 1.2 |
| 1881 | 99 | #120 | 1.0 |
| 1880 | 128 | #106 | 1.2 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dennis a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Dennis has been given almost only to boys: 2,692 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Dennis: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dennis, and how old are they?
399,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 64% of the 623,692 Americans ever recorded as Dennis. The median Dennis alive today is 68 years old; half are between 55 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 448,312 people named Dennis (1,372 women and girls, 446,940 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 450,990 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 31,900 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 223,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 81,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 38,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 16,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 6,310 |
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 Dennis born?
The states with the most babies named Dennis are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 52,500 | #790 | 1.0× |
| New York | 46,314 | #604 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 42,444 | #612 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 38,700 | #647 | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 37,420 | #649 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 35,733 | #682 | 1.1× |
| Wisconsin | 22,665 | #709 | 1.6× |
| Texas | 21,062 | #832 | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 19,554 | #461 | 1.2× |
| Iowa | 18,920 | #517 | 1.8× |
Where Dennis is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dennis is most over-represented in Iowa: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 boys’ 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 Dennis 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 646,564 babies since 1880, Dennis is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 381 of their 491 babies (78%), 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 Dennis
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 Dennis and names like it
- Compare Dennis and DenisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sDennis peaked in 1952.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dennis since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Dennis: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Dennis.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Dennis alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.