Daemon
Masculine · “guiding spirit”
Daemon is the Greek daimon — a guiding spirit, not a devil — and Socrates said he had one that warned him when he was about to do something wrong.
How old is the name Daemon?
Daemon first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Daemon alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,800 people named Daemon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Daemon most popular?
Daemon peaked in 2023, reaching #1238 nationally. Today it ranks #1644, 406 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Daemon appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From daimon to Daemon
The story of Daemon
Socrates describes his daimonion in Plato as an inner voice that only ever forbade, never commanded. The word's slide from guardian spirit to devil happened in Christian Greek and Latin. The ae spelling preserves the classical sense, and it entered American given-name use in the 2010s, helped by a television character. It is in current use.
Meaning
guiding spirit, divine power
From the Greek daimon, a spirit or lesser divinity that guides or attends a person — morally neutral in classical use. Christian Greek narrowed it to an evil spirit, which gave English 'demon'. The Latin spelling daemon preserves the older sense. The shift is documented.
How the name formed
- daimon
- daemon
- Daemon
Related forms: δαίμων · Damon · Daimon
Pronouncing Daemon
DAY-mun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Daemon and Damon are said identically in English.
Nicknames for Daemon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 2023158 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1238reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −24.4%102 in 2025, from 135
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Daemon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- δαίμων in Greek — transliteration
- Damon in English — related form
- Daimon in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Daemons among us
people named Daemon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,746 born in 2025 was named Daemon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Caine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Daemon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Caine climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Caine's path sketches the road Daemon is walking now.
Daemon is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Daemon is headed
Daemon is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 62% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Daemon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Daemon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The guiding-spirit sense is genuine and the Socratic account of it is remarkable.
- The word's shift from guardian to devil is a real and documented piece of history.
- Damon is available as a commoner alternative spelling.
- The modern English 'demon' is the same word and the association is unavoidable.
- Damon is far commoner and carries none of the difficulty.
- It is very new in this spelling.
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Daemon
Masculine · #1644 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Daemons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Daemon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Daemon in 2025?
- Daemon ranks #1644 among US boy names in 2025, with 102 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Daemon?
- About 1 in every 16,746 US boys born in 2025 was named Daemon — 102 in all.
- Will my child share the name Daemon with classmates?
- Daemon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Daemon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nikola#1644 · Reynaldo#1644 · Eamon#1644 · Woodrow#1644 · Elvin#1644 · Levon#1644 · Marcelino#1644 · Craig#1644
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Daemon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Daemon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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