Deon is a modern spelling of Dion, a short form of the Greek Dionysios, which means "follower of Dionysus", the god of wine and revelry. The spelling Deon took hold in African American families in the 1970s and 1980s, in the same wave as Deion and Deshawn. In the United States Deon ranked number 607 in 2000, had slipped out of the top 1000 by 2015 and stands at number 1383 in 2025.