Did you know legendary actor Denzel Washington's first name is actually pronounced differently than most of us have known it to be?!? 🤯
Denzel says himself on a recent Jimmy Kimmel episode that the right 🗣 pronunciation of his name is (🔉@ 7:59): Den-zul 🚫 NOT Den-zelle ❗
I actually knew this years ago after seeing him pronounce it on The Graham Norton Show in 2013. "Actually it's Denzel "(pron. Den-zul 🔉@ 0:06) Washington clarifies. I was shocked 😮 of course and I still mispronounce his name as Den-zelle 🤦🏿♀️
📛Denzel is of Cornish origin and means "from the high stronghold." Denzel Washington was named after his father. On Kimmel's show he explains, "My mother would say 'Denzil' and we both show up. So she said 'from now on you're Denzel.' That's how we got to pronounce Denzel." Kimmel told Washington that in 1987, there were zero NFL football players named Denzel and now there are four (Burke, Perryman, Mims and Ward), something the late-night host credits to the actor's first Oscar win. Washington agreed, adding that he is confident many Denzels were named after him because of his unique name.
In 1993 when Washington's film work was starting to soar, the name Denzel was at a 📈 peak point with 864 baby boys given the suave name. 😎 It also ranked #311 for being popular. Unfortunately as of recent, the name Denzel was not on SSA's Most Popular Baby Names list in 2024 📉. In England however, Denzel was at 📈 #687 for baby boys to be named in 2024.
I like the name Denzel. Denzel Washington was definitely the first Denzel I ever heard of. I'm so accustomed to hearing his name as Den-zelle so I'm partial to that pronunciation — but Den-zul isn't bad, just different and takes awhile to get used to hearing/saying. 🤷🏾♀️
Here's to the dashing 📛Denzel (with either Den-zelle or Den-zul pronunciation) having a revival on the 📛 name charts 📈 once again because it really is such a fine name. 👌🏾
⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛DENZELS:
📛Denzel Curry 🎤 (rapper)
📛Denzel Clarke ⚾ (MLB player)
📛Denzel Jackson 🏀 (NCAA player)
📛Denzel Jackson 
(cartoon character on animated series Brickleberry)
