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[Opinions] Denise
What do you think of Denise? Too dated?
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Here in South Africa people always say de NEES instead of the more Frenchly authentic de NEEZ. How does it sound where you live?I do prefer the z sound, but not enough to make me like the name.
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Americans say de NEES also. I've never heard anyone say de NEEZ. Americans don't make an effort to pronounce French names the French way.
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Yeah, but you all say Louise with a z sound and so do we. And it's pretty general for Afrikaans-speaking parents to name boys Charl, so that it gets the French sound (but not spelling) rather than the English. There are a lot of Afrikaans surnames that were originally French, so it's logical that they should want to be a part of their heritage; plus, English was the language of the colonial power and therefore less than popular!

This message was edited 1/28/2011, 1:23 AM

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I have an Aunt Denise, but everyone calls her Dede (pro. like Mimi). It is a bit dated to me, but it's still nice. I'd use it for a middle name.
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I like it. It's not too dated for me. I guess it does have sort of a middle-aged vibe, but I don't think it's any less appealing than Alison or Michelle or Karen, which are sort of similar fads - "new" seeming borrowings from other languages that were popular for a while in the mid 20th c. and are less fashionable now but not totally stodged out.
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I love the sound of this name. However, I imagine most people would consider it dated. I work with a Denise who is either 55 or 56, and I think most people would associate the name with a woman of about that age or a bit younger. It's hard to imagine a young Denise.
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Hmm. Not bad, by any means. I find it hard to imagine a newborn named Denise. Although I can see it on a three-year-old, so what the heck? And Denny might be a cute nickname. As for personal opinion, I'm not the biggest fan of the name. Lame reason though: Da-niece and Da-nephew. I know, lame.
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Honestly, it does feel dated to me. I'm sitting here saying it aloud and rolling it around in my mind and my strongest impressions are the urge to say "bless you" and a celebrity association (Ms. Richards) which, for me, is unappealing. All this aside, I did know a couple of them in school and they were very nice girls.
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I think so. It is a little sad and droopy to me. I think Denisa has a little more pep to it in comparison. Inasmuch as I'm lukewarm on its feminine variants, I do love Dennis. I work with a Dennis in his twenties who helped make it totally usable to me.
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I wanted to name my future daughter Denice / Denise / Denize when I was about ten. But I don't really like the name now, but it's starting to grow on me again since I recently started working at a school and one of the little girls is a Denise (twin brother Liam). :)
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I;ve always though it to be a pretty name. I think it has a bit of an outdated feel to it but doesn't Emma, Ava, Olivia. They all made a comeback.
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