Boris

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• Bulgarian and Slovak : from the personal name Boris, which is of disputed etymology. It is sometimes taken as a shortening of an Old Slavic personal name, Boroslav, from bor ‘struggle’, ‘conflict’ + slav ‘glory’, but more probably it is an alteration of the Old Bulgarian personal name Bogoris, borne by the king of the Bulgars (sometimes known as Boris) who was converted to Christianity in 864. This is a byname from Turkic bogori ‘small’. Boris is one of the very few names of non-Byzantine origin admitted as a baptismal name in the Orthodox Church, largely because of the popular cult of St. Boris (died 1010), patron saint of Moscow (whose baptismal name was Roman).
• Hungarian : from Boris, a pet form of the female personal name Borbála, or in some cases possibly from the male personal name Barabás.

Appears on

• ​100 Boy Names That Mean Warrior (With Their Origins)