Dimitrius
Masculine name of Greek origin meaning "follower of Demeter", the goddess of agriculture.
Name Census estimates that about 929 living Americans carry the first name Dimitrius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dimitrius today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dimitrius births was 1998 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dimitrius. 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
929
~ 1 in 368,950 Americans
Peak year
1998
41 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,238
Tracked since 1960
Census
Dimitrius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 750 people with the first name Dimitrius, which placed it at #15,361 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
#15,361
National first-name rank
People counted
750
750 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dimitrius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dimitrius is Black at 47.6%. The next largest groups are White (22.5%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.6% · 357
- White22.5% · 169
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 130
- Two or more races9.6% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 8
Popularity
Dimitrius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dimitrius from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 277 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
Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dimitrius' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Dimitrius, while New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Dimitrius
The name Dimitrius is derived from the Greek name Demetrius, which originated from the name of the Greek goddess Demeter. Demeter was the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, grain, and fertility. The name Demetrius likely emerged around the 5th century BC in ancient Greece.
The name Demetrius was a popular name among the Greeks and later the Romans. It is derived from the Greek word "demetro," meaning "mother," combined with the divine suffix "-ios." The name Demetrius is a theophoric name, meaning it incorporates the name of a deity.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Demetrius is in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Acts, Demetrius is described as a silversmith from Ephesus who stirred up a riot against the apostle Paul and his followers. This event is believed to have occurred around 57 AD.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Demetrius or its variations. One of the most famous was Demetrius I Poliorcetes, a king of Macedon who lived from 336 BC to 283 BC. He was known as a skilled military commander and played a significant role in the Wars of the Diadochi, the conflicts that followed the death of Alexander the Great.
Another prominent Demetrius was Demetrius of Phaleron, an Athenian orator, statesman, and philosopher who lived from around 350 BC to 282 BC. He served as the governor of Athens under the Macedonian rule and is credited with establishing the institution of the public library in Athens.
In the 2nd century AD, Demetrius the Cynic was a famous Cynic philosopher and satirist from Alexandria. He was known for his witty and biting critiques of society and was a vocal critic of the Roman emperor Caligula.
During the Byzantine era, Demetrius of Thessalonica, also known as Demetrius the Myroblyte, was a Christian martyr and saint who lived in the 3rd or 4th century AD. He is venerated as the patron saint of Thessaloniki, and his feast day is celebrated on October 26th in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
In the 17th century, Demetrius Cantemir was a Moldavian prince, statesman, and scholar who lived from 1673 to 1723. He was known for his writings on the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire and contributed to the development of Romanian literature and linguistics.
People
Dimitrius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dimitrius 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
Dimitrius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dimitrius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 929 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dimitrius 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 368,950 US residents.
Is Dimitrius a common name?
We classify Dimitrius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 959 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dimitrius most popular?
The single biggest year for Dimitrius was 1998, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dimitrius is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dimitrius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 750 people with the name Dimitrius, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,361 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 Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dimitrius leans strongly male. 733 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Dimitrius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dimitrius is Black at 47.6%. The next largest groups are White (22.5%) and Hispanic (17.3%). 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 Dimitrius most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Dimitrius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (357 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 Dimitrius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dimitrius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius 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 Dimitrius?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.