Boy · Ancient Greek, through French
Denis
Say it: DEN-is
Meaning
From Greek Dionysios, 'of Dionysus', the god of wine.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Spread from France through the cult of Saint Denis; common in Ireland and Russia in the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1950s
In the United States
- 21,057 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1952, about 1 in 3,100 boys
- 114 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Dennis, Dionysius
| French | Denis |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Dionisio |
| Italian | Dionigi |
| Portuguese | Dinis |
| German | Dionysius |
| Polish | Dionizy |
| Russian | Denis |
| Hungarian | Dénes |
Famous bearers
- Denis, 3rd-century bishop of Paris and patron saint of France
- Denis Diderot, French philosopher
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.