Updated February 20, 2024

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Greek : from the genitive case of the personal name Dēmētrios ‘(follower) of Dēmēter’, the classical goddess of fertility, whose name derives from an obscure element , sometimes taken as a Doric equivalent of Attic ‘earth’ + mētēr ‘mother’. This name was borne by several early Christian martyrs, and its popularity in eastern Europe is largely due to the fame of a 4th-century saint executed under Diocletian. Genitive patronymics are particularly associated with Cyprus.