Denis

Where Denis comes from

The dictionaries list Denis as a given name — a male given name from Ancient Greek, a mostly British and Irish spelling variant of Dennis — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Ancient Greek
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1713
    Denis Diderot born
    French Enlightenment philosopher writer and encyclopædist
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #600 among boys — 10 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1952
    Peak, #277
    618 babies named Denis — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1955
    Denis Mukwege born
    Congolese gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
  5. 1963
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #455.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Ancient Greek, a mostly British and Irish spelling variant of Dennis.
Namesakes
  • Denis Diderot · French Enlightenment philosopher writer and encyclopædist, 1713–1784
  • Denis Mukwege · Congolese gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, born 1955
  • Denis Sassou-Nguesso · President of the Republic of the Congo (1979–1992; 1997–present), born 1943
  • Denis Villeneuve · Canadian film director and screenwriter, born 1967
  • Denis Cheryshev · Russian footballer, born 1990

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.