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🌙 Very RareBoy nameSlavic

Boris

“Battle, to fight”

2 syllables · 5 letters

About the name Boris

Boris is a heavyweight across the Slavic world and something rather more exotic in English, thanks partly to a century of horror films and cold-war villains. The name itself is blunt and ancient, and in Bulgarian and Russian families it still signals nothing but strength.

Boris is a boy name of Slavic origin, pronounced BOR-iss. On the NameRarity scale it scores 87 out of 100, which places it in the very rare band — a genuinely uncommon pick — most people have never met anyone with this name. Its strongest period was the 1980s.

Associated with
forcefultheatricalshrewdresilient

Name facts at a glance

Meaning
Battle, to fight
Origin
Slavic
Gender
Boy
Pronunciation
BOR-iss
Syllables
2
Letters
5
US rank
Outside top 1000
Peak era
1980s
Rarity
87 / 100
Per million
~3.3
Starts with
B
Numerology
9 · The Humanitarian

How popular is Boris?

Popularity13/100
Rarity87/100

Boris currently falls outside the US top 1,000, which is a large part of why it scores so highly for rarity. Roughly 3.3 people per million carry it — about 1 in 303,030. In a school of 1,000 pupils you would expect not to find a single one.

Famous people named Boris

  • Boris Pasternak
    Russian novelist and author of Doctor Zhivago
  • Boris Becker
    German tennis champion and youngest Wimbledon winner
  • Boris Johnson
    British politician and former Prime Minister

Spellings and variants of Boris

BorysBorislavBogoris

Names similar to Boris

Uncommon

Otis

OH-tis

Wealthy, prosperous

Old German55% rare
Very Rare

Angad

UN-gud

Armlet or bracelet worn on the upper arm, and the vanara prince of the Ramayana

Sanskrit87% rare
Very Rare

Atul

uh-TOOL

Incomparable, without equal

Sanskrit86% rare
Ultra Rare

Balram

BAHL-rahm

Strong Rama; the elder brother of Krishna

Sanskrit91% rare
Ultra Rare

Bansi

BAN-see

The bamboo flute Krishna plays

Gujarati97% rare
Very Rare

Barnaby

BAR-nuh-bee

Son of consolation

Aramaic (via Greek)89% rare
Very Rare

Baxter

BAK-ster

Baker

Old English82% rare
Ultra Rare

Bhagat

BUG-ut

Devotee, the title of the saint-poets in the Guru Granth Sahib

Sanskrit92% rare
Browse all 1,284 names →

Boris — frequently asked questions

What does the name Boris mean?

Boris means "Battle, to fight". It is a name of Slavic origin, most often given to a boy.

How do you pronounce Boris?

Boris is pronounced BOR-iss, with 2 syllables.

How rare is the name Boris?

Boris scores 87 out of 100 on the NameRarity scale, which makes it very rare. Roughly 1 in every 303,030 people carry it — about 3.3 per million.

What is the numerology number for Boris?

Boris carries the expression number 9, known as The Humanitarian. Its soul urge number is 6 and its personality number is 3.

What is the lucky number and lucky colour for Boris?

The lucky number for Boris is 9 (with 18, 27, 36 also favourable), and its lucky colour is Coral Flame. The traditional lucky day is Tuesday and the associated gemstone is Bloodstone.