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Denys

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Follower of (the wine god) Dionysus, through Denis

Denys has been given to 641 babies in the U.S. since 1947. 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 1988, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 66% girls, 34% boys all-time.

Babies named Denys, 2010

1 in 616,000

Denys 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Denys over time

In 2025, Denys went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19442025

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.

Denys: meaning, origin, and history

Follower of (the wine god) Dionysus, through Denis

Ancient Greek

What Denys means

Denys belongs to the name family reached through Denys → Denis → Dennis. Its meaning is “follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”.

Origin, language, and formation

Denys is used in English and Middle French. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Denis and Dennis.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 426 girls were recorded with the name Denys between 1947 and 2010. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1988; its best national rank was #3,486 in 1968.

In the United States, 215 boys were recorded with the name Denys between 1944 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2009; its best national rank was #3,542 in 1944.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #12,494 in 2020 to #8,417 in 2025.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Denys?

Denys had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2010, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2010
1 in 616,000
6 of 3,695,928 births
Among girls only
1 in 296,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2010
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
426,971 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Denys 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 2010 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 426,971 children born in 2010 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Denys. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Denyss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Denys was born before 1981 — so the typical Denys is around 44 today.

Median birth year
1981
About 44 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
22.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
43.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
409
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 22.1% of all recorded uses (94).

Is Denys 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 1988 (19)
Years since peak
37
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,486
1968

Spellings of Denys

Denys is not the most common spelling — Denise is, with 77.6% against Denys's 0.09%.

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 Denys is used

Across 1910–2025, Denys was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 457,508 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 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. Denys has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Denys around the world

Where Denys 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
    1971–1971
    #724
    in 1971

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

Denys 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
#3,486
1968
Peak year
1988
19 that year
First recorded
1947
Last recorded
2010
All-time count
426
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,417
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 4,077
Best rank ever
#3,542
1944
Peak year
2009
13 that year
First recorded
1944
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
215
Count in 2025
9

Names similar to Denys

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

DennysDenymDenisDenizDenimDeniaDeniDennyDeneaDenayDeniyahDenylaDenaeDeneeDenellDenniDenalyDeniyaAlanysDeneanDenaliDeneneDenikaDenyce

Sibling names for Denys

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 Denys

Top names of 1988, Denys's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1968Girls' names starting with D