Meaning & Origin
A surname.
Diem is a girl's and boy's baby name of Latin origin, from the Latin dies (day), as in the famous phrase carpe diem (seize the day), meaning 'day' — a name of hopeful, live-in-the-moment energy drawn from one of the most enduring phrases in the Latin literary tradition.
With over 710 recorded births, Diem is used across American communities as a name with a philosophical charge. The phrase carpe diem, from Horace's Odes (c. 23 BCE), is perhaps the most famous two-word phrase in all of Latin literature — an exhortation to embrace each day fully before time carries it away. Diem Berg, a reality television star who died of cancer in 2014 and documented her illness publicly with remarkable grace, gave the name its most poignant contemporary association.