Given name & surname · also Portuguese
Deniz
“sea”
Deniz is a surname from Portuguese, ultimately from Turkish. It is used in English and Turkish.
Original TurkishDengiz
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Deniz comes from Portuguese, and ultimately from Turkish.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1961. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Deniz through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,122
- 1,212 boys · 910 girls
- Most popular year
- 2016
- 87 babies
- 2025
- 69
- #2,611 for boys · #6,178 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −22%
- Easing
Boys, girls and both
The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 62% boys.
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 50 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 2,611 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 17.9% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 58 in 2019. It also appeared in 19 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, Florida had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (15). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,350 as a first name in 2020; 1,725 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Deniz’s family of names
In English usage, Deniz has a short form in DERO. In Turkish usage, Deniz shares a linguistic root with the Georgian form თენგიზი. In Turkish usage, Deniz has a conventional equivalent in the English form Dennis.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Deniz has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its Turkish roots to each of them.
Turkishwhere Deniz comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 5
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Deniz
- Deniz UndavGerman association football playerborn 1996
- Deniz BaykalTurkish attorney and statesperson (1938–2023)
- Deniz Gamze ErgüvenTurkish-French film director (born 1978)
- Deniz ÇakırTurkish actor (born 1981)
- Deniz AytekinTurkish association football referee (born 1978)
- Deniz GezmişTurkish political activist (1947-1972)
- Deniz GülTurkish association football player (born 2004)
- Deniz BaysalTurkish actor (born 1991)
- Deniz TekinTurkish musician (born 1997)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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