Deion
Masculine · “of Zeus”
Deion is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,043 boys against 123 girls since 1880.
Deion respells Dion, and behind it is Dionysus — the Greek god of wine and theater, whose name means the Zeus of Nysa, a mountain nobody has located.
How old is the name Deion?
Deion first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Deion alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 5,900 people named Deion are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Deion most popular?
Deion peaked in 1996, reaching #410 nationally. Today it ranks #1743, 1,333 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Dionysos to Deion
The story of Deion
Dionysus was the god of wine, ecstasy and the theater — tragedy and comedy were performed at his festival. Saint Dionysius carried the name into Christian use. Deion Sanders, who played in both a Super Bowl and a World Series, gave the spelling wide American visibility from the late 1980s. It is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
of Zeus, of Nysa
Through Dion and Dionysus, whose name joins Dio-, the genitive of Zeus, to Nysa, a mountain of the myths that no geographer has ever identified. The De- prefix in this spelling also reflects American naming practice. Only half the compound is recovered.
How the name formed
- Dionysos
- Dion
- Deion
Related forms: Dion · Dionne · Dionysios
Pronouncing Deion
DEE-on
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some bearers say dee-ON with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Deion
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 1996566 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #410reached in 1996
- Change vs 2024
- −12.3%93 in 2025, from 106
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.
Deion in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dion in English — spelling variant
- Dionne in French — related form
- Dionysios in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Deions among us
people named Deion are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,366 born in 2025 was named Deion
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 Lenard test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Deion's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lenard climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lenard's path sketches the road Deion is walking now.
Deion sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Deion is headed
Deion should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Deion beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Deion in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A major Greek god with a genuinely interesting cultural role stands behind it.
- Dee is available as a short form with its own record.
- Two clean syllables with no real pronunciation risk.
- The Nysa element has never been located and the meaning is only half recovered.
- Dion is the standard spelling and will be assumed.
- One athlete carries a very strong association.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Deion
Masculine · #1743 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Deions are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,900 people named Deion are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Deion in 2025?
- Deion ranks #1743 among US boy names in 2025, with 93 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Deion?
- About 1 in every 18,366 US boys born in 2025 was named Deion — 93 in all.
- Will my child share the name Deion with classmates?
- Deion will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Deion
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Augustin#1743 · Nyaire#1743 · Ender#1743 · Rain#1743 · Laurence#1743 · Nate#1743 · Jovan#1743 · Oskar#1743
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Deion? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Deion and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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