Denise
A feminine name of French origin meaning "follower of Dionysus".
Name Census estimates that about 299,411 living Americans carry the first name Denise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Denise today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Denise births was 1961 (15,424 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Denise. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Denise with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Denise is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,368 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Denise have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
299K
~ 1 in 1,145 Americans
Peak year
1961
15,424 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2021 SSA rank
#1,894
Tracked since 1882
Census
Denise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 327,829 people with the first name Denise, which placed it at #155 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#155
National first-name rank
People counted
328K
327,829 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
108.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Denise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denise is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (11.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Denise described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Denise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.8% · 228,713
- Black or African American14.0% · 45,954
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 39,088
- Two or more races2.3% · 7,630
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 4,422
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,022
Gender
Gender distribution for Denise
Out of the 374,664 babies given the name Denise since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Denise as a male name
- Ranked #12,585 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1958 (56 births)
Denise as a female name
- Ranked #1,894 in 2024
- 105 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (15,381 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denise appears almost entirely female. Of the 327,824 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Denise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Denise from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 129,280 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Denise by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Denise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Denises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Denise, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,265 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Denise
Denise is a French feminine given name derived from the Greek name Dionysia, which was the feminine form of Dionysios. The name Dionysios comes from the Greek god Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy.
The name Denise first appeared in France during the medieval period as a variant of the name Denisette. It was originally a diminutive form of the masculine name Denis, which was the French form of the Latin name Dionysius.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Denise can be found in the 12th century French epic poem "The Song of Roland," where a character named Denise is mentioned. In the poem, Denise is the wife of the Frankish knight Samson.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Denise. One of the most famous was Denise Levertov (1923-1997), an American-born British poet who was known for her free verse and her exploration of spiritual and political themes.
Another notable Denise was Denise Darvall (1926-1998), an Australian singer and actress who was one of the first Australian female pop stars and had several hit songs in the 1950s and 1960s.
In the world of sports, Denise Lewis (born 1972) is a British former athlete who won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Denise Grover Swank (born 1968) is an American author best known for her contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels.
Denise Crosby (born 1957) is an American actress and television personality, best known for her roles in films and TV shows such as "Pet Sematary" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Denise
People
Denise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Denise as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Denise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Denise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 299,411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Denise going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,145 US residents.
Is Denise a common name?
We classify Denise as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 374,664 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Denise most popular?
The single biggest year for Denise was 1961, when 15,424 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Denise is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Denise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 327,829 people with the name Denise, or 108.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #155 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Denise in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Denise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denise appears almost entirely female. Of the 327,824 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Denise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denise is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (11.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Denise most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Denise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (228,713 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Denise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Denise a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Denise in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Denise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Denise in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Denise can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Denise?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.