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Demetrius

#1,229 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Belonging to Demeter

Demetrius has been given to 37,791 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #1,229 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1991, with 1,052 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 95% boys, 5% girls all-time.

Babies named Demetrius, 2025

1 in 20,200

Demetrius over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Demetrius over time

In 2025, Demetrius went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19122025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Demetrius: meaning, origin, and history

Belonging to Demeter

Greek, in a Latinized form

About Demetrius

Demetrius is the Latinized form of Greek Demetrios, meaning “belonging to Demeter.” It connects with the Greek goddess of agriculture and has a long history among rulers, saints, and literary characters. Shakespeare's Demetrius and boxer Demetrius Andrade offer particularly recognizable associations in drama and sport.

Meaning and related forms

Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and the mother of Persephone in Greek mythology. Her own name is sometimes explained as “earth mother,” although that deeper derivation is uncertain. Demetrius has the more direct meaning of belonging to, or being associated with, Demeter.

Demetrios and Dimitrios preserve Greek forms, while Dimitri and Russian Dmitry belong to the same international family. Demetria is a feminine form. English Demetrius is usually pronounced duh-MEE-tree-us, with four syllables and stress on the second.

Ancient kings of Macedon and the Seleucid kingdom bore the name. It also entered Christian tradition through saints, notably Demetrius of Thessalonica, remembered as an early martyr and later represented as a warrior saint. The name consequently moved from a classical religious setting into a different religious tradition.

Italian Demetrio and Bulgarian Dimitar are further international forms.

Demetrius in Shakespeare

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Demetrius is one of the young Athenians whose romantic conflicts draw them into the forest. He wants to marry Hermia, whose father supports his suit, but Hermia loves Lysander. Helena, meanwhile, loves Demetrius.

The imbalance sets the lovers in motion. Helena tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's plan to flee, hoping to win his favor. In the forest, fairy intervention and a magical flower further complicate their desires.

By the conclusion, Lysander again loves Hermia and Demetrius loves Helena. His story connects the name with Shakespearean comedy's shifting affections, mistaken assumptions, and eventual pairing of the lovers. Unlike a background figure with a classical-sounding name, Demetrius is directly involved in the play's central romantic confusion.

Demetrius Andrade in boxing

American boxer Demetrius Andrade represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the welterweight division. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, he had also won a silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games.

He later became a professional world champion, holding titles in more than one weight division. His record includes WBO junior-middleweight and middleweight championships, along with a WBA super-welterweight title.

Andrade gives the name a modern sporting presence beside its much older historical and theatrical uses. His Olympic record lists the 401 Boxing Club in Cranston as his affiliation.

Popularity in the United States

Demetrius reached its strongest boys' ranking and largest annual count in 1991, with 1,052 births at #259. Use declined to 679 boys in 2000 and 501 in 2010. In 2025, 164 American boys received the name, ranking #1,229. Its most prominent period in these records belongs to the late twentieth century, far later than its ancient origins.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning and history draw on the references below. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA. Informal shortening suggestions are identified in the prose.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How popular is Demetrius?

In 2025, Demetrius ranked #1,229 among boys in the United States, with 164 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1912; its largest annual count was 1,052 in 1991. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.

How common is Demetrius?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 20,200
164 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 10,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,229
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
14,013 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Demetrius sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 14,013 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Demetrius. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Demetriuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Demetrius was born before 1991 — so the typical Demetrius is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
23.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
28.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
35,887
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 23.3% of all recorded uses (8,390).

Is Demetrius rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−187
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−373
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−550
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.44×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
15.6%
Peak was 1991 (1,052)
Years since peak
34
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#259
1991

Spellings of Demetrius

Demetrius is the most-used spelling, taking 58.8% of the 61,296 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Demetrius is used — boys

Across 2016–2025, Demetrius was most concentrated in Michigan — about 1 in 2,500 boys, against 1 in 6,303 across all states with data. It was least common in Minnesota (1 in 50,000).

240 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Michigan1 in 2,500
  2. 2Alabama1 in 2,564
  3. 3Georgia1 in 2,941
  4. 4Ohio1 in 3,571
  5. 5Illinois1 in 3,704
  6. 6Mississippi1 in 3,846
  7. 7South Carolina1 in 4,167
  8. 8Florida1 in 4,348

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Demetrius is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 60% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Where Demetrius is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Demetrius was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 25,000 girls, against 1 in 118,076 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 25,000
  2. 2Georgia1 in 50,000
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 50,000
  4. 4Alabama1 in 100,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 100,000
  7. 7South Carolina1 in 100,000
  8. 8Tennessee1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Demetrius has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Demetrius around the world

Where Demetrius ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • France
    1900–1909
    #770
    in 1909
  • Canada
    1998–2024
    #2,550
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2005
    #643
    in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Demetrius

People whose public names include Demetrius, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Demetrius in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Demetrius. Linked forms have their own page here.

DmitriDmitryDemeterDemetreDemetriDimitarDimitriDimitryDmitriyDemetrioDemetrisDimitrisDemetriosDimitriosDumitruDemétrioDimitrijDemetriusz

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Demetrius by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,229
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 373
Best rank ever
#259
1991
Peak year
1991
1,052 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
36,064
Count in 2025
164

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,328
1975
Peak year
1975
82 that year
First recorded
1946
Last recorded
2004
All-time count
1,727
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Demetrius

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

DemitriusDemariusCorneliusDemarcusDemaryiusDemetriosDemarionDemetrioDemarioDemarcoDemetrisDemetricDempseyDemetriDemeriusDemarriusDemetriousAloysiusDariusCassiusDemondLadariusDemonteIgnatius

Names with a curve like Demetrius

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Demetrius, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JamalTerrellDerickBryantJaimeDeonStefanRolandoAntoineMathewRogelioGuillermo

Sibling names for Demetrius

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Demetrius

Top names of 1991, Demetrius's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1991Boys' names starting with DAncient Greek NamesAncient Names Outside the Top 1000Greek Boy NamesGreek Mythology NamesShakespeare Names