Meaning and background
The story behind Dennis
Dennis is an English form of Denis, a name that ultimately comes from Greek Dionysios and the god Dionysos. The connection is historical, not a direct translation to a dog's personality or love of celebrations. Dennis has long worked as an everyday personal name in English; its paired short vowels give it a friendly, unmistakable two-syllable sound.
- Origin
- English form of Denis, ultimately from Greek Dionysios Source
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Everyday moments“Dennis, come here!”
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About Dennis
Recorded as a dog’s name
Dennis appears in 11 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/dɛnɪs/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/dɛnɪs/ · primary stress on syllable 1D EH1 N IH0 S
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.