MEANING & HISTORY
What does Dennis mean?
Dennis comes through French Denis and Latin Dionysius from a Greek name referring to Dionysus, the god associated with wine. Norman transmission helped establish it in English.
Follower of Dionysus is a conventional explanatory gloss rather than an assertion of the bearer’s beliefs. Dennis and Dionisio preserve different language developments of the same older name relationship.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
CebuanoEtymology & source
From English Dennis, from Old French saint's name Denis, from Latin Dionysius.
a male given name from English
Wiktionary: Dennis (Cebuano) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
From Middle English Denis, from Old French saint's name Denis, brought to England by Normans; from Latin Dionysius, a masculine name literally meaning “follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”.
A male given name from Ancient Greek.
Wiktionary: Dennis (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Dennis
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Dennis Trillo
Filipino actor (born 1981)
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Dennis Orcollo
Filipino pool player
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
18
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
16
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Dennis Orcollo, Dennis Trillo
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Dennis in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Dennis
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Denis·Name derived from Dionysus
- Denisa·Feminine name in the Dionysus name family
- Denise♀Feminine form of Denis; related to Dionysus
- Denny·Familiar form of Denis or Dennis
- Adonis·Lord or master, through a Phoenician title
- Dean♂Surname-name with valley and church-office routes
- Debbie·Bee, through Deborah
- Delfin♂Delfín/Delphinus family; dolphin and Delphi accounts
What rhymes with Dennis?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Recorded combinations with Dennis
8 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
- Dennis Edwin John·Source record
- Dennis John·Source record
- Dennis Joseph·Source record
- Dennis Peter·Source record
- Dennis Theodore·Source record
- Manuel Dennis·Source record
- Tito Dennis·Source record
- Victorino Dennis·Source record
Explore Dennis further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q639292 — Dennis (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Dennis Orcollo (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q639292 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Dennis Trillo (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q639292 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Dennis (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Dennis (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Dennis (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.