UK boy's name
Dennis
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "wild" or "untamed".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Dennis is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Dennis popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #453, with 89 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2017, with 139 births.
This profile covers 2,644 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 64% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 2,916 living people in the UK are called Dennis. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Dennis ranked #453 for boys in England and Wales in 2024, with 89 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2017, when 139 boys were registered as Dennis.
- • Dennis ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #392 in 2020.
- • About 2,916 living people in the UK are estimated to have Dennis as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#453
2024
Births in 2024
89
Latest year
Peak year
2017
139 births
Estimated living
2,916
2026
Meaning
What does Dennis mean?
The name Dennis has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek name Dionysios, which was a theophoric name meaning "follower of Dionysus," the Greek god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy. The name Dionysios was later Latinized to Dionysius.
The name Dennis emerged as a French diminutive form of Dionysius, taking the form "Denis" in French. It is believed that the French form Denis was introduced to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066, where it eventually evolved into the English spelling Dennis.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dennis is Saint Dennis, also known as Saint Dionysius, who is said to have been the first bishop of Paris in the 3rd century AD. According to tradition, he was martyred and beheaded for his faith around 258 AD, becoming one of the most revered martyrs of the Catholic Church.
Another notable figure in history with the name Dennis is Dennis the Carthusian (1384-1471), a influential Catholic theologian, philosopher, and spiritual writer from the Low Countries. He is best known for his works on mystical theology and his commentaries on various books of the Bible.
In the realm of literature, the name Dennis is associated with the English poet and satirist John Dennis (1657-1734), who was a prominent critic and playwright during the Restoration period in England. He is particularly remembered for his critiques of the works of William Shakespeare and John Dryden.
The name Dennis also has a connection to the American Revolution through Dennis Smythe (1740-1818), an American silversmith and patriot who participated in the Boston Tea Party in 1773. He is credited with being one of the leaders of the "mob" that boarded the ships and dumped the tea into Boston Harbor.
In the realm of science, Dennis Gabor (1900-1979) was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist who pioneered the theory of holography, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971.
These are just a few examples of notable figures throughout history who bore the name Dennis, illustrating its rich heritage and diverse cultural connections.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Dennis over time
The chart below shows babies named Dennis registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Dennis, the clearest high point is 2017. The latest England and Wales figure is 89 births in 2024, compared with 139 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dennis by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Dennis was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #411 | 515 | 5 |
| 2010s | #381 | 1,133 | 10 |
| 2000s | #406 | 770 | 10 |
| 1990s | #393 | 226 | 4 |
Geography
Where Dennis is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Dennis. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Dennis ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #392 in 2020.
Across the UK
Dennis in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#482 in 2023
39 years of NRS records, 275 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#392 in 2020
7 years of NISRA records, 22 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Dennis
-
Dennis Zuill
association football player
Bermudian footballer
1978-
-
Dennis Wyness
association football player
Scottish footballer (born 1977)
1977-
-
Dennis Young
competitive diver
English diver
1944-
-
Dennis Young
politician
acting governor-general of Papua New Guinea
1936-2008
Related
Names similar to Dennis
- Daniel 120,900
- Dylan 60,836
- David 37,852
- Dominic 20,480
- Declan 11,657
- Dexter 11,627
- Danny 8,434
- Dean 5,329
- Dillon 4,113
- Douglas 3,773
- Dominik 3,494
- Damian 3,486
FAQ
Dennis: questions and answers
How popular is the name Dennis in the UK right now?
In 2024, Dennis was ranked #453 for boys in England and Wales, with 89 births registered.
When was Dennis most popular?
The peak year on record was 2017, with 139 babies registered as Dennis in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Dennis?
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "wild" or "untamed".
How many people are called Dennis in the UK?
A total of 2,644 babies have been registered as Dennis across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 275 more in Scotland and 22 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Dennis most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Dennis ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #392 in 2020. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.