Demian
A newcomer in Poland: barely given at all until the early 2020s, then it climbed fast, with newborn boys now arriving by the dozens each year. Greek at root, from a word meaning to tame or to conquer.
Demian Pronunciation
Demian is pronounced DEM-yahn (/ˈdɛmjan/).
What Demian means
Where Demian comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Demian traces back to the Greek verb damazō, meaning to tame or to subdue. The same root gives the Polish sense of the name, pogromca and poskromiciel, a word for someone who masters what resists them. Ancient Greek used that verb for horses broken to the bridle and for hard men brought to heel.
The most famous Demian in print is not a person. Hermann Hesse published his novel Demian in 1919, and its character Max Demian pushes a younger friend toward his own harder self. Many European readers met the name in that book before they met it on any birth record.
The gloss given in English, to tame and to conquer, sits close to that first Greek meaning rather than drifting from it. Picture the name on a school register in Poland. It stays short. Four letters over one firm stress, and behind it sits the old idea of the poskromiciel.
How many people are named Demian
1 in 13259 men in Poland is named Demian. 1,610 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #772 among male names.
Demian's popularity over time
74 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #281 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2014.
Where parents choose Demian
Demian is most popular in Łódź, 106% above the national average (24 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+87%) and Masovian (+62%). It is least common in Lublin and Podlaskie, 68% and 67% below average respectively.
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Łódź
+106%1 in 5,280 babies
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Lower Silesian
+87%1 in 5,820 babies
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Masovian
+62%1 in 6,684 babies
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Lublin
−68%1 in 34,225 babies
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Podlaskie
−67%1 in 32,893 babies
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Subcarpathian
−64%1 in 30,141 babies
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Łódź+106% 24 born1 in 5,280 babies+106%
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Lower Silesian+87% 27 born1 in 5,820 babies+87%
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Masovian+62% 53 born1 in 6,684 babies+62%
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Opole+41% 6 born1 in 7,683 babies+41%
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West Pomeranian+16% 9 born1 in 9,381 babies+16%
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Lubusz−13% 4 born1 in 12,414 babies−13%
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Greater Poland−14% 17 born1 in 12,661 babies−14%
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Silesian−14% 18 born1 in 12,644 babies−14%
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Lesser Poland−23% 16 born1 in 14,182 babies−23%
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Pomeranian−48% 7 born1 in 21,046 babies−48%
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Warmian-Masurian−55% 3 born1 in 23,931 babies−55%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−60% 4 born1 in 27,345 babies−60%
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Holy Cross−61% 2 born1 in 27,717 babies−61%
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Subcarpathian−64% 4 born1 in 30,141 babies−64%
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Podlaskie−67% 2 born1 in 32,893 babies−67%
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Lublin−68% 3 born1 in 34,225 babies−68%
Demian as a middle name
Demian is a first name for 1,610 men in Poland and a middle name for another 19, a 99/1 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 2055th, between Dejan (19) and Dexter (19).
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#2053 Dayan19
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#2054 Dejan19
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#2055 Demian19
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#2056 Dexter19
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#2057 Duran19