Boris
Slavic in origin, it carries the sense of "fighter, warrior" and belongs to men only. Around 900 Poles hold it and it clings to the far edge of the top 1,000, so most people here have never met one.
Boris Pronunciation
Boris is pronounced BO-rees (/ˈbɔris/).
What Boris means
Where Boris comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Boris comes from a Slavic root, and it has long been read as the name of a fighter, a warrior. That reading fits the old Slavic element bor-, tied to struggle and combat, the same family that feeds Polish words for battle. The name settled into a firmly Russian sound, worn by tsars and saints across the eastern Slavic lands.
The best-known bearer is Boris Godunov, ruler of Russia at the turn of the seventeenth century, later the subject of Pushkin's drama and Mussorgsky's opera. His story is dark and political. Still the name kept its blunt sense of a man who stands and fights.
Boris has no diminutives or variants for Polish families to pass around. It arrives whole. On a Polish class register it sits among the Jakubs and Antonis with a clear eastern accent, short and hard.
Boris means waleczny, wojownik. A fighter, plainly.
How many people are named Boris
1 in 23535 men in Poland is named Boris. 907 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #998 among male names.
Boris's popularity over time
2 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1486 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2020. Still the #998 name among living men, even as it slips to #1486 among newborns.
Where Boris is most popular
Boris is most popular in Łódź, 753% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+205%).
Boris as a middle name
Boris is a first name for 907 men in Poland and a middle name for another 70, a 93/7 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 858th, between Maxime (71) and Grant (70).
-
#856 Jon71
-
#857 Maxime71
-
#858 Boris70
-
#859 Grant70
-
#860 Ioan70