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Dennis

Heart
French from Greek, vernacular form of Dionysius
"god of Nysa"

Dennis Origin and Meaning

The name Dennis is a boy's name of French origin meaning "god of Nysa".

Although it has come to sound Irish, Dennis is one of the most widely-used French names (St. Denis is the patron saint of France) and harks back even further to Dionysius, the Greek god of wine and debauchery. It was introduced to England by the Normans.

Dennis was considered cool when it was near the top of the charts in the 1940s and 1950s, but has been slipping ever since, thanks in part to the devilish Dennis the Menace.

Dennis Barlow is the main character in Evelyn Waugh's satirical 1948 novel The Loved One. Some prominent namesakes also include Dennis Hopper, Dennis Rodman, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Leary and Dennis Wilson. Denis is a secondary spelling.

# 653 in the US

Dennis Rank in US Top 1000

# 570 on Nameberry

Dennis Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Dennis Popularity

20 Names Similar to Dennis

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Famous People Named Dennis

  • (John) Dennis Hastert51st U.S. Speaker of the House
  • Dennis William QuaidAmerican actor
  • Dennis ChristopherAmerican actor
  • Dennis Lee HopperAmerican actor
  • Dennis FranzAmerican actor
  • Dennis Carl WilsonAmerican musician of The Beach Boys
  • Dennis John KucinichU.S. Congressman from Ohio
  • Dennis MillerAmerican comedian
  • Dennis Dexter HaysbertAmerican actor
  • Dennis Keith RodmanAmerican basketball player
  • Dennis Leroy SpringerAmerican baseball player
  • Dennis Gregory PittaAmerican football player
  • Dennis Marvin SeidenbergGerman NHL Hockey player
  • Dennis William SciamaBritish physicist
  • Dennis GaborHungarian,British engineer; winner of the Nobel Prize
  • Dennis O'NeilAmerican comic book writer and editor

Dennis in Pop Culture

  • Dennis Mitchellmain character in the Dennis the Menace comic and series
  • Dennis Creeveycharacter in the Harry Potter series
  • Dennis Finchcharacter in "Just Shoot Me!"
  • Dennis Cahillfrom movie "Executive Decision"
  • Dennis Reynoldscharacter on TV's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
  • Dennischaracter on TV's "Psych"
  • Dennisthe goldfish of Stanley Griff on animated TV series "Stanley"
  • Dennis Loughranaka Denisovich, character in Hotel Transylvania 2
  • Dennis Nedrycharacter in film Jurassic Park
  • Dennis the Hitmanminor character from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
  • Dennis the Locomotiveminor character on animated series Thomas and Friends
  • Dennischaracter in video game Far Cry 3
  • Dennis the Peasantminor character in film Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Dennis Lawrence Chancharacter on animated series Kid vs. Kat
  • Dennis Duffya minor character on TV's 30 Rock
  • "Phantom Dennis"Cordelia Chase's deceased roommate on TV's Angel
  • Dennis van Ritacharacter in the 2006 film Love Belongs to Everyone
  • Dennis O'Bannona character from the Nickelodeon cartoon "Welcome To The Wayne"