Denzel
A masculine name of French origin meaning "from the estate of Antilles".
Name Census estimates that about 10,673 living Americans carry the first name Denzel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Denzel today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Denzel births was 1993 (869 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Denzel. 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 Denzel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,114 Americans
Peak year
1993
869 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,034
Tracked since 1906
Census
Denzel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,558 people with the first name Denzel, which placed it at #2,738 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
#2,738
National first-name rank
People counted
8.6K
8,558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Denzel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denzel is Black at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.3%) and White (7.2%). 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 Denzel 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 Denzel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.5% · 5,521
- Hispanic or Latino19.3% · 1,651
- White7.2% · 616
- Two or more races5.4% · 461
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 247
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 62
Gender
Gender distribution for Denzel
Out of the 11,603 babies given the name Denzel since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Denzel as a male name
- Ranked #1,034 in 2024
- 215 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (864 births)
Denzel as a female name
- Ranked #14,060 in 1993
- 5 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1916 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denzel appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,556 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Denzel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Denzel from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,464 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Denzel 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 Denzel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Denzels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Denzel, while Nevada, Nebraska, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 246 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Denzel
The name Denzel is of German origin, derived from the surname Denzel or Dentzler, which is a diminutive form of the German name Denis. Denis itself is the French form of the Latin name Dionysius, meaning "follower of Dionysus," the Greek god of wine and revelry.
In the Middle Ages, the name Denzel was particularly common in the regions of Bavaria and Swabia in southern Germany. It was often used as a personal name or a surname, with various spellings such as Denzel, Denzler, and Denzler.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Denzel dates back to the 13th century, when a nobleman named Denzel von Rothenburg was mentioned in historical records from the city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria. However, the name's popularity grew significantly during the Renaissance period, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Denzel. One of the most famous was Denzel Gerhard Müller (1516-1591), a German theologian and Reformer who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. Another prominent figure was Denzel Chetham (1615-1692), an English landowner and benefactor who made significant contributions to the town of Manchester.
In the 19th century, Denzel Walther Stucke (1827-1909) was a German-American musician and composer who helped establish the Milwaukee Music Society in Wisconsin. Denzel Washington (born 1954) is perhaps the most well-known bearer of the name in modern times, an acclaimed American actor who has won numerous awards, including two Academy Awards.
Another notable individual with the name Denzel was Denzel Merrill Curry (1898-1958), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Curry Company, a major manufacturer of transportation equipment. His contributions to the industry and his philanthropic efforts in his hometown of Denver, Colorado, earned him a place in the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Denzel
People
Denzel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Denzel 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
Denzel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Denzel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,673 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Denzel 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 32,114 US residents.
Is Denzel a common name?
We classify Denzel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Denzel most popular?
The single biggest year for Denzel was 1993, when 869 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Denzel is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Denzel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,558 people with the name Denzel, or 2.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,738 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 Denzel 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 Denzel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Denzel appears almost entirely male. Of the 8,556 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Denzel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Denzel is Black at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.3%) and White (7.2%). 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 Denzel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Denzel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (5,521 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 Denzel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Denzel a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Denzel 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 Denzel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Denzel 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 Denzel 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 Denzel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.