Denham
One of English origin meaning "Dweller in the Valley".
Name Census estimates that about 82 living Americans carry the first name Denham. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Denham today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Denham births was 2023 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Denham. 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 Denham with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Denham. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
82
~ 1 in 4,179,931 Americans
Peak year
2023
9 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,410
Tracked since 1923
Census
Denham in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 193 people with the first name Denham, which placed it at #39,252 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
#39,252
National first-name rank
People counted
193
193 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Denham
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denham is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (42.5%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Denham 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 Denham at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.2% · 91
- Black or African American42.5% · 82
- Two or more races3.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
Popularity
Denham: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Denham from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 31 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Denham remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Denham 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 Denham during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Denham
The name Denham has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the combination of two words: "denu," meaning a valley, and "ham," meaning a homestead or village. It was originally a place name referring to a settlement located in a valley, and over time, it evolved into a personal name.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in England, from the 5th to the 11th centuries, the name Denham was likely used as a surname or a locational identifier, indicating that an individual or family hailed from a particular place called Denham. As personal names became more prevalent, Denham transitioned into a given name, especially among the Anglo-Saxon nobility and landowners.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Denham appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several places with the name Denham, suggesting that the name had already been established as a place name by that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Denham. One of the earliest was Sir John Denham (1615-1669), an English poet and courtier who served as the Surveyor of the King's Works under Charles II. He is best known for his poems "Cooper's Hill" and "The Progress of Learning."
Another prominent figure was Sir John Denham (1559-1639), an English lawyer and Member of Parliament who played a significant role in the negotiations between King Charles I and the Parliament during the English Civil War. He was a staunch Royalist and was knighted by King James I in 1609.
In the realm of literature, John Denham (1805-1879) was a prominent English writer and editor who served as the editor of the Examiner, a weekly newspaper known for its literary criticism and political commentary.
Sir John Denham (1805-1888), a British diplomat and colonial administrator, served as the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1855 to 1861. He was instrumental in establishing responsible government in the colony and promoting infrastructure development.
Finally, Denham Coale (1816-1865) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland from 1845 to 1847.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Denham, a name with deep roots in the Old English language and a rich history spanning centuries.
People
Denham + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Denham 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
Denham: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Denham?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 82 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Denham 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 4,179,931 US residents.
Is Denham a common name?
We classify Denham as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 88 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Denham most popular?
The single biggest year for Denham was 2023, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Denham is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Denham in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 193 people with the name Denham, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,252 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 Denham 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 Denham?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denham leans strongly male. 186 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 10 female bearers (5.1%). 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 Denham?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denham is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (42.5%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Denham most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Denham in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.2% (91 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 Denham in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Denham a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Denham in the SSA data are male. 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 Denham still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Denham 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 Denham 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 people share the name Denham?
Find out how many people have the name Denham on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.