Demetrus
Masculine · “Of Demeter”
Demetrus is given to both — 639 boys and 22 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Demetrus is Demetrius with one vowel fewer, a Greek name meaning 'of Demeter' that has been carried by scholars, soldiers, saints and impostors. A Demetrius brought the first printed Homer into the world; three other men fought for Russia's throne under the Russian form of the name.
How old is the name Demetrus?
Demetrus first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Demetrus alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 600 people named Demetrus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Demetrus most popular?
Demetrus peaked in 1973, reaching #1736 nationally. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Demeter to Demetrus
The story of Demetrus
Greek scholars who fled to Italy in the fifteenth century carried the name with them, and in 1488 Demetrius Chalcondyles saw the first printed edition of Homer through the press in Florence, putting the Iliad and the Odyssey into print in their own language for the first time. In Russia the name became Dmitry, and after the young Tsarevich Dmitry died mysteriously in 1591, three different men in turn claimed to be him; the first actually took the throne in 1605 and held it for a year, the start of the Time of Troubles. American families took up Demetrius and its spellings, Demetrus among them, in the second half of the twentieth century.
Meaning
Of Demeter, a spelling of Demetrius
Demetrius means 'belonging to Demeter', the Greek goddess of grain and harvest.
How the name formed
- Demeter
- Demetrios
- Demetrius
- Demetrus
Related forms: Dimitrios · Dmitry · Demetrius · Dimitar · Demetrio
Pronouncing Demetrus
dih-MEE-trus
Three syllables with the stress on the second, where Demetrius has four.
Nicknames for Demetrus
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
- 197326 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1736reached in 1973
- Change vs 2014
- 0.0%6 in 2024, from 6
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.
Demetrus in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dimitrios in Greek — same name
- Dmitry in Russian — same name
- Demetrius in English — spelling variant
- Dimitar in Bulgarian — same name
- Demetrio in Italian — same name
Demetruss among us
people named Demetrus are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Demetrus sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Sounds close to Demetrius, a name with a long and varied history.
- A settled Greek meaning tied to the harvest goddess.
- Comes with several short forms in real use.
- Demetrius is the spelling people expect, so the missing i will be added by others.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls too; a girl called Demetrus would often be taken for a boy on paper.
- Three syllables where people expect four means it will sometimes be said the longer way.
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What they receive
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Demetrus
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Demetruss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Demetrus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Demetrus in 2025?
- Demetrus is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Demetrus with classmates?
- Demetrus will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Demetrus? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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