Boris
Masculine · “battle”
Boris is a Slavic name with a Bulgar past — it belonged to the ruler who brought Bulgaria into Christianity in the ninth century, and it has been in use across the Slavic world ever since.
How old is the name Boris?
Boris first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Boris alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 3,500 people named Boris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boris most popular?
Boris peaked in 1962, reaching #871 nationally. Today it ranks #3181, 2,310 places below that high. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Boris
The Bulgar ruler Boris accepted Christianity for his people in the 860s and was later canonized, which fixed the name in the Orthodox world. It spread through Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia and beyond, and an eleventh-century Russian saint of the same name reinforced it. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century emigration carried it to western Europe and the Americas, where its Russian associations became the first thing English speakers noticed about it.
Meaningscholars disagree
battle, or snow leopard
Two accounts compete. One treats Boris as a short form of Borislav, built on a Slavic root meaning to fight. The other traces it to a Turkic word for a snow leopard, carried by the Bulgars, who spoke a Turkic language before adopting Slavic.
Pronouncing Boris
buh-REES
Two syllables with the stress on the second in Russian. English speakers say BOR-iss, with the stress moved to the front.
Nicknames for Boris
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1911
- Most boys named
- 196276 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #871reached in 1962
- Change vs 2023
- +15.6%37 in 2025, from 32
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Boris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Борис in Russian — transliteration
- Boris in Bulgarian — same name
- Boris in Serbian — same name
- Borislav in Slavic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, New York.
Boriss among us
people named Boris are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 46,164 born in 2025 was named Boris
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Gloria test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Boris's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gloria climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gloria's path sketches the road Boris is walking now.
Boris sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Boris is headed
Boris should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Boris beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boris in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented record reaching back to a ninth-century ruler, with continuous use since.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to spell and to write.
- Recognized across Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia and much of central Europe.
- In English-speaking countries the name carries a strong set of fictional and political associations.
- The English and Russian pronunciations differ in stress and in every vowel.
- The meaning is genuinely contested between a Slavic and a Turkic account.
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Boris
Masculine · #3181 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Boriss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Boris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boris in 2025?
- Boris ranks #3181 among US boy names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boris?
- About 1 in every 46,164 US boys born in 2025 was named Boris — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Boris with classmates?
- Boris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Boris
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Diamond#3181 · Walden#3181 · Tobin#3181 · Keion#3181 · Artem#3181 · Arsh#3181 · Kris#3181 · Esau#3181
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Boris? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Boris and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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