Denny
Denny was given to 24 boys in 2025, #4,283 among boys’ names; 15,819 Americans have been recorded with it since 1889 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,600 Americans named Denny and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (67% of everyone recorded); the median is 57 years old and half are between 41 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Denny by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Denny mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Denny is “a diminutive of the male given names Denis or Dennis.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Denny?
#4,283 among boys’ names, 2025
Denny fell from #2,572 in 2015 to #4,283 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 25.0 to 14.1 per million.
445 babies in 1947, the peak
Denny peaked in 1947, when 445 babies were given it (439 boys, #325 among boys’ names). The 24 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #4,283 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 24 | #4,345 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 30 | #3,731 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 32 | #3,553 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 26 | #4,036 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 17 | #5,300 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 32 | #3,506 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 34 | #3,310 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 33 | #3,395 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 31 | #3,544 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (123)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 48 | #2,572 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 44 | #2,718 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 44 | #2,677 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 42 | #2,829 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 68 | #2,007 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 63 | #2,125 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 50 | #2,534 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 65 | #2,105 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 85 | #1,748 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 78 | #1,776 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 68 | #1,868 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 73 | #1,732 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 73 | #1,686 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 81 | #1,530 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 68 | #1,698 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 66 | #1,711 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 76 | #1,490 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 63 | #1,644 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 98 | #1,204 | 0.05 |
| 1996 | 97 | #1,180 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 88 | #1,235 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 90 | #1,210 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 83 | #1,244 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 98 | #1,106 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 114 | #1,003 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 88 | #1,151 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 118 | #935 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 112 | #904 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 114 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 109 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 117 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 101 | #875 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 122 | #792 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 157 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 134 | #755 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 139 | #746 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 139 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 149 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 189 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1976 | 165 | #640 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 200 | #570 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 217 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1973 | 198 | #565 | 0.13 |
| 1972 | 224 | #529 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 217 | #547 | 0.12 |
| 1970 | 244 | #517 | 0.13 |
| 1969 | 267 | #468 | 0.15 |
| 1968 | 204 | #535 | 0.12 |
| 1967 | 195 | #532 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 215 | #517 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 237 | #496 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 227 | #519 | 0.11 |
| 1963 | 275 | #482 | 0.14 |
| 1962 | 259 | #493 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 259 | #489 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 309 | #456 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 317 | #451 | 0.15 |
| 1958 | 305 | #448 | 0.14 |
| 1957 | 294 | #448 | 0.14 |
| 1956 | 255 | #472 | 0.12 |
| 1955 | 238 | #475 | 0.12 |
| 1954 | 221 | #485 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 246 | #456 | 0.12 |
| 1952 | 251 | #445 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 270 | #414 | 0.14 |
| 1950 | 296 | #391 | 0.17 |
| 1949 | 272 | #407 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 327 | #376 | 0.19 |
| 1947 | 439 | #325 | 0.24 |
| 1946 | 391 | #325 | 0.24 |
| 1945 | 273 | #360 | 0.20 |
| 1944 | 295 | #347 | 0.22 |
| 1943 | 300 | #353 | 0.21 |
| 1942 | 303 | #346 | 0.22 |
| 1941 | 224 | #383 | 0.18 |
| 1940 | 187 | #426 | 0.16 |
| 1939 | 222 | #381 | 0.20 |
| 1938 | 162 | #455 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 141 | #478 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 139 | #477 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 127 | #509 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 132 | #501 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 105 | #558 | 0.11 |
| 1932 | 86 | #659 | 0.08 |
| 1931 | 60 | #809 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 76 | #718 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 70 | #766 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 70 | #775 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 62 | #859 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 47 | #1,011 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 39 | #1,127 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 34 | #1,252 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 26 | #1,466 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 38 | #1,163 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 40 | #1,126 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 32 | #1,280 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 18 | #1,824 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,727 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 26 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 15 | #1,977 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,516 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,565 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 14 | #1,460 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 13 | #1,372 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,210 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,649 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,182 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,431 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,124 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,071 | 0.05 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,087 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,031 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Denny a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 15,819 Americans recorded as Denny, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 24 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Denny: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Denny, and how old are they?
10,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 67% of the 15,819 Americans ever recorded as Denny. The median Denny alive today is 57 years old; half are between 41 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 12,121 people named Denny (885 women and girls, 11,236 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,605 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 801 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,670 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,690 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 423 |
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 Denny born?
The states with the most babies named Denny are California, Ohio and Texas, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,693 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 1,002 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 730 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 662 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 563 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Kentucky | 499 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| New York | 491 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 465 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Iowa | 447 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 441 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Denny is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Denny 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 Denny 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 25,690 babies since 1880, Denny is the most given (62% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 30 babies (80%), 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 Denny
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 Denny and names like it
- Compare Denny and DennieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sDenny peaked in 1947.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Denny since 1910.
- The top names of 1947The year the most babies were named Denny.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Denny alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with DMost given first.