Demosthenes

Boys' name

Vigour of the people

Demosthenes has been given to 63 babies in the U.S. since 1914. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1923, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Demosthenes, 2007

1 in 666,000

Demosthenes over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Demosthenes: meaning, origin, and history

Vigour of the people

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Demosthenes means

Demosthenes means “vigour of the people”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Demosthenes is used in Ancient Greek.

Another recorded pronunciation is /dɛː.mos.tʰé.nɛːs/ for Demosthenes.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Dēmosthenēs, from Ancient Greek Δημοσθένης (Dēmosthénēs).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Demosthenes (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Demosthenes is used in English.

Demosthenes comes through Latin Dēmosthenēs and Ancient Greek Δημοσθένης.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Δημοσθένης.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Demosthenes is pronounced /dɪˈmɒsθəniːz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 63 boys were recorded with the name Demosthenes between 1914 and 2007. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1923; its best national rank was #3,167 in 1931.

How common is Demosthenes?

Demosthenes had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2007, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2007: 1 in 666,000; 6 of 3,997,748 births
Among boys only: 1 in 346,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2007: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 461,839 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Demosthenes 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 2007 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 461,839 children born in 2007 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Demosthenes. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Demostheness were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Demosthenes was born before 1931 — so the typical Demosthenes is around 94 today.

Median birth year: 1931; About 94 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 30.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 17.5%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 22; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 30.2% of all recorded uses (19).

Is Demosthenes 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1923 (8)
Years since peak: 102; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 37.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #3,167; 1931

Demosthenes around the world

Where Demosthenes 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.

France
1906–1906
#783
in 1906
South Australia
1955–1959
#464
in 1959

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Demosthenes by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #3,167; 1931
Peak year: 1923; 8 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 2007
All-time count: 63
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Demosthenes

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

Sibling names for Demosthenes

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

For a sister

Filomena Novella Aletha Vernice Albertha Bethel Rosina Kattie

For a brother

Elwin Rubin Bertram Alvis Eldridge Trinidad Hobert Harland

Explore around Demosthenes

Top names of 1923, Demosthenes's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1931 Boys' names starting with D