Boris

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Boeris in AR Argentina and Boriş in TM Turkmenistan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Boris is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian given name273K records spelled Boris116 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish

  Also written Борис, Borys, Боря, Барыш, Боріс

• Hungarian given name27K records spelled Boris6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Slovenia, Finland, United States, Estonia

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Bõrïs, Böris, Börîs

• a separate given name11K records spelled Boris5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Russia, Ecuador, United Kingdom

  Also written Bôrîs, Boris͏, Borís, Bóris

• Indonesian given name2.3K records spelled Boris2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Russia, Peru

  Also written Boriş

95 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Boris is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Slavic name, possibly from Turkic meaning 'wolf'

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Probably from a Tartar nickname meaning ‘small’. Saints Boris and Gleb were sons of Prince Vladimir, first Christian ruler of Kiev in the roth century. D

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Russian, "glorious fight." Short form var of Borislav.

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

• In English, A male given name from the Slavic languages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, Nom slave, d'origine incertaine; saint Boris vénéré en Orient.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 115 years between 1911–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Andrei Belyb. 1880RUnot in their usual nameRussian poet, writer and critic (1880–1934)
• Boris Pasternakb. 1890RURussian writer (1890–1960)
• Boris Yeltsinb. 1931RUSoviet and Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (1931–2007)
• Boris Spasskyb. 1937RURussian chess player (1937–2025)
• Boris Perchatkinb. 1946USChristian Russian-American human rights activist
• Boris Trajkovskib. 1956MKPresident of Macedonia (1956-2004)
• Boris Tadićb. 1958RS3rd President of the Republic of Serbia
• Boris Johnsonb. 1964GBPrime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022
• Boris Beckerb. 1967DEGerman tennis player, coach, and commentator (born 1967)
• Boris Kodjoeb. 1973USGerman actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,216 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Boris?

We estimate roughly 86 thousand people bear Boris (counting its spellings and scripts) across 16 countries in our records.

In which country does Boris have the most bearers?

Boris is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled boris.

Where is Boris most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Boris is densest in Slovenia — about 1 in 280 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Boris compared with other names?

In Germany, Boris is the 418th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Boris a male or female name?

Boris is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Boris mean?

Recorded meaning: Slavic name, often linked to Turkic or Old Slavic roots; meaning uncertain.