Demetri
Derived from Greek, meaning "follower of Demeter", the goddess of fertility.
Name Census estimates that about 4,093 living Americans carry the first name Demetri. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Demetri today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Demetri births was 1992 (178 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Demetri. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Demetri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Demetri is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 158 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,742 Americans
Peak year
1992
178 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,561
Tracked since 1953
Census
Demetri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,583 people with the first name Demetri, which placed it at #4,959 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,959
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,583 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Demetri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demetri is Black at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Hispanic (13.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Demetri described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Demetri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.6% · 1,489
- White35.5% · 1,271
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 467
- Two or more races7.4% · 265
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 43
Gender
Gender distribution for Demetri
Demetri leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 158 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Demetri as a male name
- Ranked #2,561 in 2024
- 52 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (178 births)
Demetri as a female name
- Ranked #12,241 in 1996
- 6 female births in 1996
- Peak: 1972 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Demetri leans strongly male. 3,390 people counted with this name were male (94.5%), compared with 196 female bearers (5.5%).
Popularity
Demetri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Demetri from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,143 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Demetri by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Demetri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Demetris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Demetri, while Louisiana, Indiana, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Demetri
The name Demetri is a masculine given name of Greek origin, derived from the name Demetrius. It has its roots in the ancient Greek word "Demeter," which refers to the goddess of agriculture, grain, and fertility in Greek mythology.
The name Demetrius can be traced back to the 4th century BC, and it was popular among the Greek and Hellenistic aristocracy. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Demetrius I, also known as Demetrius Poliorcetes, a king of Macedon who lived from 336 BC to 283 BC and played a significant role in the Wars of the Diadochi following the death of Alexander the Great.
In the New Testament, the name Demetrius appears in the Book of 3 John, where the writer praises a man named Demetrius for his good testimony. This reference helped to popularize the name among early Christians.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Demetri or Demetrius. One of the most famous was Demetrius of Phaleron, an Athenian orator, statesman, and philosopher who lived from 350 BC to 280 BC. He served as the governor of Athens under the Macedonian rule and was known for his extensive reforms in the city.
Another notable bearer of the name was Demetrius the Cynic, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 1st century AD and was known for his ascetic lifestyle and sharp wit. He was a prominent figure in the Cynic philosophical movement and is credited with several philosophical works.
In the realm of saints, Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica (c. 286 - c. 306 AD) was a Christian martyr who is venerated as the patron saint of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is celebrated for his bravery and steadfastness in the face of persecution during the reign of Emperor Galerius.
During the Byzantine era, Demetrius Cydones (c. 1324 - c. 1397) was a prominent scholar, philosopher, and theologian who played a crucial role in the negotiations between the Byzantine Empire and the Western Church during the Council of Ferrara-Florence in the 15th century.
In more recent times, Demetri Martin (born 1973) is an American comedian, actor, and writer, known for his unique brand of observational humor and his contributions to shows like "Important Things with Demetri Martin" and "Dean."
People
Demetri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Demetri as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Demetri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Demetri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,093 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Demetri going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 83,742 US residents.
Is Demetri a common name?
We classify Demetri as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,221 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Demetri most popular?
The single biggest year for Demetri was 1992, when 178 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Demetri is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Demetri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,583 people with the name Demetri, or 1.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,959 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Demetri in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Demetri?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Demetri leans strongly male. 3,390 people counted with this name were male (94.5%), compared with 196 female bearers (5.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Demetri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demetri is Black at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Hispanic (13.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Demetri most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Demetri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.6% (1,489 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Demetri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Demetri a male name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Demetri in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Demetri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Demetri in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Demetri can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Demetri?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.