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Borys

A Slavic name meaning "warrior" or "fighter". Around 21,000 Polish men carry it and it's still handed out at a steady pace, though its high point came in the 2010s: meeting one stays memorable.

Borys Pronunciation

Borys is pronounced BO-rihs (/ˈbɔrɨs/).

Related names
Barys
Alive in 2025
21,266
Newborns 2025
491
National rank
#268
Next name day
10 August
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What Borys means

Where Borys comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Borys grows from Slavic soil, and its short meaning splits in two directions, "wolf" and "short," both traced to a Bulgar root. The Bulgar connection is not decorative. Boris I ruled Bulgaria in the ninth century and brought Christianity to his people, which carried the name westward and gave it a documented bearer long before it settled into Polish registers.

The Polish sense reads differently. Here Borys is glossed as wojownik, walczący, a fighter, one who does battle. That reading grew alongside the name rather than out of its first syllable, and it suits a word shaped by rulers and soldiers.

A variant sits close by: Barys, used in Belarusian. Set them side by side and the kinship is plain.

Picture the school register on the first day of term. The teacher reads Borys, and one head lifts. The name has never been common in Poland, which keeps it distinct on any class list, and it still arrives with that older sense of wolf and warrior behind it.

When Borys celebrates name day

Borys appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 10 August.

Next name day
10 August
Tuesday in 2027
Next one in 334 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Borys

1 in 1004 men in Poland is named Borys. 21,266 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #268 among male names.

People with the name Borys 2019 → 2025
21,266 +6,184 since 2019
2020 15,833 +751
2021 17,083 +1,250
2022 18,314 +1,231
2023 19,846 +1,532
2024 20,583 +737
2025 21,266 +683

Borys's popularity over time

491 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #109 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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491 newborns with the name Borys in 2025
national rank #109 that year

Where Borys is most popular

Borys is most popular in West Pomeranian, 81% above the national average (355 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+58%) and Pomeranian (+39%). It is least common in Lublin and Subcarpathian, 55% and 45% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Borys as a middle name

Borys is a first name for 21,266 men in Poland and a middle name for another 2,838, an 88/12 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 153rd, between Klemens (2,885) and Tobiasz (2,727).

As a first name
21,266
As a middle name
2,838
first name 88% middle name 12%
Middle-name ranking men

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Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Bronisław #8