Demi
A feminine name of French origin meaning "half".
Name Census estimates that about 13,910 living Americans carry the first name Demi. It sits at #451 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Demi today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Demi births was 2020 (913 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Demi. 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 Demi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Demi is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,641 Americans
Peak year
2020
913 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#451
Tracked since 1964
Census
Demi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,276 people with the first name Demi, which placed it at #2,590 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
#2,590
National first-name rank
People counted
9.3K
9,276 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Demi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demi is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (25.6%) and Hispanic (20.1%). 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 Demi 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 Demi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.9% · 3,976
- Black or African American25.6% · 2,378
- Hispanic or Latino20.1% · 1,869
- Two or more races5.6% · 519
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 454
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 80
Gender
Gender distribution for Demi
Out of the 14,107 babies given the name Demi since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Demi as a male name
- Ranked #12,715 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (12 births)
Demi as a female name
- Ranked #451 in 2024
- 693 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (913 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Demi leans strongly female. 9,138 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 144 male bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Demi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Demi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,083 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Demi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Demi 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 Demi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Demis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Texas, California, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Demi, while New Mexico, Idaho, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 306 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Demi
The name Demi has its origins in Greek culture, deriving from the word "dêmios" which means "belonging to the people" or "public". It was initially used as a prefix or combining form, attached to other words to indicate something related to the common populace or the general public.
In ancient Greek mythology, Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and the harvest. Her name is a compound formed by the elements "dê" (earth) and "mêtêr" (mother), reflecting her role as the nurturing mother of the earth and all living things. The name Demi may have been influenced by this association with the divine figure.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Demi as a given name can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century AD. During this period, it was occasionally used as a diminutive or shortened form of longer names beginning with the prefix "Demi-", such as Demetrios or Demetria.
In the Middle Ages, the name Demi appeared sporadically in various European regions, often as a nickname or abbreviated version of names like Demetria or Demetrius. However, it was not widely used as a standalone given name until more recent times.
One notable historical figure with the name Demi was Demi Moore, an American actress born in 1962. She rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s with roles in films like "Ghost" and "G.I. Jane". Her striking name helped establish her as a recognizable figure in popular culture.
Another individual with the name Demi was Demi Lovato, an American singer and actress born in 1992. She gained widespread recognition as a Disney Channel star and later transitioned into a successful music career, releasing several hit albums and singles.
In the world of literature, Demi is the name of a character in the fantasy novel series "The Mortal Instruments" by Cassandra Clare. Demi is a skilled Shadowhunter, a fictional race of warriors dedicated to protecting the world from supernatural threats.
The name Demi has also been associated with historical figures like Demi Tasse, a French artist and painter from the 19th century, known for her vibrant landscapes and portraits. Additionally, Demi Quartet was a renowned classical music ensemble that performed in the early 20th century.
While the name Demi has ancient roots in Greek culture, its adoption as a standalone given name is a relatively modern phenomenon. Its unique sound and association with notable individuals have contributed to its increasing popularity in recent decades.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Demi
People
Demi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Demi 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
Demi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Demi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,910 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Demi 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 24,641 US residents.
Is Demi a common name?
We classify Demi as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Demi most popular?
The single biggest year for Demi was 2020, when 913 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Demi is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Demi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,276 people with the name Demi, or 3.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,590 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 Demi 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 Demi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Demi leans strongly female. 9,138 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 144 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Demi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demi is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (25.6%) and Hispanic (20.1%). 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 Demi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Demi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (3,976 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 Demi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Demi a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Demi in the SSA data are female. 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 Demi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Demi 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 Demi 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 Demi?
Find out how many people share the name Demi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.