Denay vs Denise
American parents have registered 374,789 Denises since 1880, against 510 Denays. Denise is still ahead, with 123 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Denay Denise
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Denise has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 2004, when Denay had 22 and Denise had 894.
Side by side
| Denay | Denise | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 510 | 374,789 |
| Most in one year | 23 | 15,422 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 123 |
| Estimated living today | 490 | 324,000 |
| Median age today | 34 | 61 |
| Peak year | 1991 | 1961 |
| Best rank | 4,329th girls | 30th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,673rd |
| First recorded | 1963 | 1882 |
| Girls / boys | 510 / 0 | 373,422 / 1,367 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Denises alive today are over 61; half the Denays are over 34. That is 27 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Denay California (8.2×)
- Denise the District of Columbia (1.9×), Rhode Island (1.9×), New Jersey (1.6×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Denay and Denise.