Follow
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 dē, sometimes taken as a Doric equivalent of Attic gē ‘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.