How common is the surname Denny?

17,503 people in the United States had the surname Denny in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,640 Americans. It ranked 2,062nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Denny?

Matthew Denny, Australian athletics competitor, followed by Reginald Denny.

Where is the surname Denny most common?

Wikidata records people named Denny in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Is the surname Denny getting more or less common?

More common. 17,366 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,503 in 2010, up 0.8%.

Is Denny also a first name?

Yes. Denny is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Denny

A surname, carried by 17,503 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex D500 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Denny is more common than 98.7% of them.

Origin

A surname of Scottish origin.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 17,503 people named Denny in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 17,640 Americans. That is up 0.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,366.

#2,062

rank among US surnames

17,503

people in 2010

5.9

per 100,000 Americans

+0.8%

change since 2000 (was #1,899)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,053	Begay	17,553	17,589
#2,054	Argueta	17,540	17,602
#2,055	Granger	17,539	17,603
#2,056	Grover	17,534	17,608
#2,057	Michaels	17,528	17,614
#2,058	Champion	17,527	17,615
#2,059	Whittington	17,517	17,625

Who is named Denny

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

83% of people named Denny identified as white (not Hispanic), 7.1% as Black (not Hispanic) and 4.5% as American Indian and Alaska Native.

White (not Hispanic) 83%
Black (not Hispanic) 7.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 4.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Dennys

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Matthew Denny
Australian athletics competitor, born 1996
Reginald Denny
British actor, aviator and businessman (1891–1967)
Martin Denny
American pianist and composer best known for originating the Exotica genre of music (1911–
William Denny
Australian politician, 1872–1946

Notable Dennys come mostly from Australia (2), the United Kingdom (1) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Denny

Denny has the Soundex code D500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D500.

Questions

How common is the surname Denny?: 17,503 people in the United States had the surname Denny in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,640 Americans. It ranked 2,062nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Denny?: In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Denny identified as white (not Hispanic), and 7.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Denny?: Matthew Denny, Australian athletics competitor, followed by Reginald Denny.
Where is the surname Denny most common?: Wikidata records people named Denny in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Is the surname Denny getting more or less common?: More common. 17,366 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,503 in 2010, up 0.8%.
Is Denny also a first name?: Yes. Denny is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.