Demya
Variant of the Russian masculine name Dmitry, derived from the Greek name Demetrius meaning "follower of Demeter", the goddess of fertility and agriculture.
Name Census estimates that about 758 living Americans carry the first name Demya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Demya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Demya births was 2008 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Demya. 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.
People living today
758
~ 1 in 452,183 Americans
Peak year
2008
59 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,777
Tracked since 1998
Census
Demya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 538 people with the first name Demya, which placed it at #19,583 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
#19,583
National first-name rank
People counted
538
538 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Demya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demya is Black at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Demya 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 Demya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.0% · 468
- Two or more races7.8% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
- White1.1% · 6
Popularity
Demya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Demya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 416 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Demya 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 Demya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Demyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Illinois, Tennessee, Texas recorded the most babies named Demya, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Demya
The name Demya has its origins in the Russian language and culture, with its roots dating back to the medieval era. It is a diminutive form of the name Demyan, which is derived from the Greek name Damianos, meaning "to tame" or "subdued."
Demya was a popular name among the Slavic people, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, during the 11th to 15th centuries. The name is believed to have been influenced by the spread of Christianity in the region, as it shares a connection with several early Christian saints and martyrs.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Demya can be found in the "Veliky Minei Chetii," a collection of hagiographies (biographies of saints) compiled in the 16th century by the Russian Orthodox Church. This text mentions a Saint Demya who lived in the 3rd century and was martyred for his Christian faith.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Demya was borne by several notable figures in Russian history. Demya Boretsky (1490-1542) was a renowned military leader who fought against the Tatar invasions and played a crucial role in defending the city of Moscow. Another notable bearer of the name was Demya Nikitin (1530-1598), a merchant and explorer who traveled extensively throughout Asia and documented his travels in a famous memoir.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Demya remained popular among the Russian nobility and aristocracy. One of the most prominent figures was Demya Shcherbatov (1625-1683), a military commander and statesman who served under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
In the 18th century, Demya Ovchinnikov (1705-1765) was a renowned Russian Orthodox priest and theologian who made significant contributions to the development of religious education in Russia.
Another notable bearer of the name was Demya Davidov (1811-1888), a celebrated Russian poet and writer who was known for his patriotic and romantic works.
While the name Demya has maintained a consistent presence throughout Russian history, it has also been used in other Slavic cultures, such as Ukraine and Belarus, where it has similar linguistic roots and cultural significance.
People
Demya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Demya 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
Demya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Demya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 758 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Demya 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 452,183 US residents.
Is Demya a common name?
We classify Demya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 767 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Demya most popular?
The single biggest year for Demya was 2008, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Demya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Demya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 538 people with the name Demya, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,583 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 Demya 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 Demya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Demya leans strongly female. 533 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Demya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Demya is Black at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.8%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Demya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Demya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (468 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 Demya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Demya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Demya 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 Demya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Demya 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 Demya 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 called Demya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.