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Denzil

Boys' name

Surname transferred into given-name use

Denzil has been given to 3,843 babies in the U.S. since 1897. 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 1937, with 96 recorded.

Babies named Denzil, 2020

1 in 557,000

Denzil over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Denzil: meaning, origin, and history

Surname transferred into given-name use

surname transfer

What Denzil means

Denzil is a given name.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Denzil is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈdɛn.zɪl/ for Denzil.

The naming story behind Denzil

Denzil is a given name adopted from surname. This establishes the immediate naming route. A surname transfer is different from a direct translation of the modern given-name spelling; the family name may have its own earlier derivation.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,775 boys were recorded with the name Denzil between 1897 and 2020. Its highest annual count was 96 in 1937; its best national rank was #589 in 1937.

In the United States, 68 girls were recorded with the name Denzil between 1915 and 1930. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1915; its best national rank was #2,952 in 1915.

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 Denzil?

Denzil had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2020, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2020
1 in 557,000
6 of 3,342,313 births
Among boys only
1 in 288,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2020
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
386,120 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Denzil sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2020 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 386,120 children born in 2020 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Denzil. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Denzils were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Denzil was born before 1942 — so the typical Denzil is around 83 today.

Median birth year
1942
About 83 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
6.0%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,432
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.5% of all recorded uses (698).

Is Denzil 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 1937 (96)
Years since peak
88
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#589
1937

Spellings of Denzil

Denzil is not the most common spelling — Dennis is, with 92.7% against Denzil's 0.56%.

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 Denzil is used

Across 1910–2025, Denzil was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 2,041 boys, against 1 in 54,337 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

049 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 2,041
  2. 2Kentucky1 in 8,333
  3. 3Missouri1 in 20,000
  4. 4Arkansas1 in 50,000
  5. 5Indiana1 in 50,000
  6. 6Oklahoma1 in 50,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 100,000
  8. 8California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Denzil has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Denzil around the world

Where Denzil 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1996–1996
    #1,445
    in 1996
  • South Australia
    1949–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Denzil

People whose public names include Denzil, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Denzil by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#589
1937
Peak year
1937
96 that year
First recorded
1897
Last recorded
2020
All-time count
3,775
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,952
1915
Peak year
1915
9 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
1930
All-time count
68
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Denzil

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

DentonDenimDenzelDennieDenverDenaliDenzellDenizDennyDeniroDeniseDenisDenardDenilsonDenymDenahiDennysDensonDenysDenhamDengDenariusDencilDenney

Names with a curve like Denzil

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Denzil, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

VerlinTheadoreOnealLoyLoranWinfordBurnellBertrandDillardMeltonGarnettLeamon

Sibling names for Denzil

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 Denzil

Top names of 1937, Denzil's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1937Boys' names starting with D