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Dene

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Variant of Dean

Dene has been given to 795 babies in the U.S. since 1921. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1965, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 72% girls, 28% boys all-time.

Babies named Dene, 2000

1 in 315,000

Dene over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Dene over time

In 2000, Dene went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19172000

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Dene: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Dean

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Dene means

Dene is a variant of Dean.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Dene is used in English (Rare).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈdin/ for Dene.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Dean.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 572 girls were recorded with the name Dene between 1921 and 2000. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1965; its best national rank was #2,858 in 1965.

In the United States, 223 boys were recorded with the name Dene between 1917 and 1993. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1925; its best national rank was #2,535 in 1947.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Dene?

Dene had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2000, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2000
1 in 315,000
12 of 3,778,496 births
Among girls only
1 in 151,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2000
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
218,256 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Dene sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2000 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 218,256 children born in 2000 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Dene. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Denes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Dene was born before 1969 — so the typical Dene is around 56 today.

Median birth year
1969
About 56 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
23.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
39.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
501
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 23.8% of all recorded uses (136).

Is Dene rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1965 (19)
Years since peak
60
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,858
1965

Spellings of Dene

Dene is not the most common spelling — Diane is, with 15.0% against Dene's 0.02%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Dene is used

Across 1910–2025, Dene was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,047,915 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Dene has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Dene around the world

Where Dene ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    2002–2002
    #730
    in 2002

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Dene by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,858
1965
Peak year
1965
19 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
2000
All-time count
572
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,535
1947
Peak year
1925
10 that year
First recorded
1917
Last recorded
1993
All-time count
223
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Dene

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DeneneDeniDenymDenisDenizDenimDeniaDeneeneDenayDenaeDenysNeneDennyDeneaDeniyahDeneeDenaliDenylaEleneDenikaAyleneSoleneMaxeneDenean

Sibling names for Dene

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Dene

Top names of 1965, Dene's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1965Girls' names starting with D