Denali

Denali: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“the high one”
Origin
Native American
Say it
deh-NAH-lee · 3 syllables
Used for
Both (72% girls, 28% boys since 1880)

From Koyukon, the Indigenous Athabaskan name of North America's highest peak in Alaska. Used as a modern given name inspired by the mountain and its Native place name.

How popular is Denali?

202434.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Denali in 2024114

2024 rank#2,119 girls

Peak year2022

Total US babies since 18802,369

Denali is rising: use over the last five years is 1.9× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Denali

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Dakotafriend; ally · Native American
  • Dakodafriend, ally · Native American
  • Dakotahfriend; ally · Native American

Denali questions

What does the name Denali mean?

Denali means "the high one". It comes from Native American. From Koyukon, the Indigenous Athabaskan name of North America's highest peak in Alaska. Used as a modern given name inspired by the mountain and its Native place name.

Is Denali a boy or girl name?

Denali is used for both: about 72% of US babies named Denali since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Denali?

114 US babies were named Denali in 2024. Its peak year was 2022.

How do you pronounce Denali?

Denali is usually pronounced deh-NAH-lee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.