Demian is a variant of Damian, from the Greek Damianos, which goes back to damao, "to tame" or "to subdue". This spelling owes its fame to Hermann Hesse's novel Demian of 1919, and it is popular in Spanish-speaking countries and in Russia. In the United States Demian stood at number 4845 in 2000, climbed to number 1684 in 2007 and ranks number 2489 among boys' names in 2025.