Damian Family History

Spanish (Damián), German, Romanian, Italian, and Polish derive from the personal name Damián or Damian respectively, which originates from the Greek Damianos (from damazein meaning ‘to subdue’) and Latin Damianus. Saint Damian was an early Christian saint martyred in Cilicia in AD 303 under the emperor Domitian, together with his brother Cosmas (see Kosmas).

In some accounts, the brothers are said to have been doctors, and together they were regarded as the patrons of physicians and apothecaries. A later Saint Damian lived in the 7th–8th centuries and was the bishop of Pavia; he may have had some influence on the popularity of the personal name in Italy.

This surname is also found among Rusyns (Lemkos). In some cases, it is probably also French (southern France and Lorraine), derived from a variant of the personal name Damien, which is a cognate of the aforementioned names.

Additionally, it may represent an Americanized form of Slovenian and Croatian Damjan or Damijan, stemming from the personal name Dam(i)jan.