Boris (given name)
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Gender | male |
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Origin | |
Word/name | Bulgar, Bulgarian |
Meaning | unclear |
Region of origin | First Bulgarian Empire |
Other names | |
Related names | Borislav |
Boris, Borys or Barys (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian: Борис; Belarusian: Барыс) is a male name of Bulgarian origin.[1] Nowadays, it is most widely represented in Russia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. In recent generations it has also been used among speakers of Germanic (continental and Anglo-Frisian) and, to a lesser extent, Romance languages.
Meaning
The most common theory is that this name comes from the Bulgar language with meanings according to the different interpretations: "wolf", "short" or "snow leopard".[2]
Origin
Boris is first found in written records in the case of the Bulgarian ruler Prince Boris I (852–889), who adopted Christianity in 864 AD and imposed it on his people. His name came to be known in Europe in relation to this particular act. Moreover, after his death in 907 AD he was proclaimed the first Bulgarian saint, and traces of his cult during this period can be found as far away as Ireland. The Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized the canonization of St. Boris in 923 AD.[3] However, Prince Boris was not a Slav. He descended from the Bulgars. Among the Bulgars the name was known in its two forms: Boris and Bogoris.[4][5]
History
Boris started its worldwide spread with its adoption by Rus' Slavs from the First Bulgarian Empire. Bulgarian cultural missions intensified in the 10th century, during the reign of Tsar Petar and with them the spread of Bulgarian culture continued. It is speculated that the name of the Bulgarian saint Tsar Boris I reached the Rus in the late 10th century, likely during the reign of Boris II of Bulgaria (969-977), great-grandson of Boris I. In 967 the Byzantines instigated the Rus to attack the First Bulgarian Empire and it is probably around this campaign that the marriage of Vladimir I of Kiev to a Bulgarian noblewoman, who is assumed to be a daughter of Peter I, i.e., sister of Boris II, was arranged.[6][7][8]
One of the sons of Vladimir I was given the name Boris. As evidenced by the Rus' Primary Chronicle, Boris and Gleb were sons of Vladimir I, born to him by the Bulgarian princess. During Vladimir's reign in 988 the conversion of the Kievan Rus' to Christianity took place. In this conversion, both ordinary priests and prelates from Bulgaria played a significant part.[9] Also, with the adoption of the Byzantine calendar and the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, the cult of St. Boris entered the Rus' Orthodox Church.[10] In 1015, the princes Boris and Gleb were killed by their stepbrother Sviatopolk I of Kiev, who usurped the throne. Within a short time, Boris and Gleb were canonized and ever since, they have been the native soldier-saints most revered among the Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians.[11]
Spreading
In addition to Kievan Rus the name Boris went over to other neighbors of Bulgaria as well. An example of this is the case of the Hungarian prince Boris Kalamanos (1112–1155), son of the Magyar king from his marriage with Euphtimia, daughter of the Kievan prince Vladimir II Monomakh. For a fairly long period men named Boris were found predominantly in the courts and among the nobility, but eventually the name became popular among all strata in the Russian Empire, including Siberia and Alaska. So it reached gradually the two Americas and Australia. In the present day, one can meet a Boris even in Africa.
List of people with given name Boris
- Knyaz Boris I of Bulgaria (852–889), first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire; canonized after his death
- Tsar Boris II, ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
- Tsar Boris III, ruler of the Kingdom of Bulgaria in the first half of the 20th century
- Boris and Gleb, Russian princes; murdered 1015; first Russian saints
- Boris Barnet, Soviet film director
- Boris Becker, German professional tennis player
- Boris Bede, French player of gridiron football
- Boris Berezovsky, Russian pianist
- Boris Berezovsky, Russia businessman; Russia's first billionaire
- Boris Berman, Russian pianist
- Boris Blank, Swiss artist and musician
- Boris Christoff, Bulgarian opera singer
- Boris Diaw, French basketball player
- Boris Dlugosch, house music producer
- Boris Dvornik, Croatian actor
- Boris Furlan, Slovenian jurist and politician
- Boris Gelfand, Israeli chess Grandmaster
- Boris Godunov, tsar of Russia during the late 16th and early 17th centuries
- Boris van der Ham, Dutch politician, writer and actor
- Boris M. Gombač, Slovenian historian
- Boris Grebenshchikov, Russian singer-songwriter; leader of the band Aquarium
- Boris Grishayev, Soviet marathon runner
- Boris Mikhaylovich Gurevich (born 1937), Soviet Olympic champion wrestler
- Boris Johnson, British politician; former Foreign Secretary; former Mayor of London; MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
- Boris Jordan, American investor involved in Russia's economic privatization in 1992
- Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian academic and political dissident
- Boris Kalin, Slovenian sculptor
- Boris Karloff, English actor; appeared in many horror films
- Boris Kidrič, Slovenian communist official and resistance leader
- Boris Kodjoe, American actor
- Boris Lyatoshinsky, Ukrainian composer
- Boris Mikšić, Croatian businessman and politician
- Boris Miletić (born 1975), Croatian politician and mayor of Pula
- Boris Nachamkin (born 1933), American basketball player
- Boris Nemtsov, Russian scientist and politician
- Boris Paichadze, Georgian football player
- Boris Pahor, Slovenian writer
- Boris Pasternak, Soviet author; recipient, 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature
- Boris Podrecca (born 1940), Slovenian-Italian architect
- Boris Polak (born 1954), Israeli world champion and Olympic sport shooter
- Boris Razinsky (1933—2012), Soviet Olympic champion football player and manager
- Boris Said, American race car driver
- Boris Sidis, Ukrainian psychiatrist
- Boris Spassky, Russian chess player
- Boris Starling, British novelist and screenwriter
- Borys Szyc, Polish actor
- Boris Tadić, Serbian politician; former President of Serbia (2004–2012)
- Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician
- Boris Titulaer, Dutch singer
- Boris Trajkovski, politician; former President of Macedonia
- Boris Vallejo, fantasy artist
- Boris van der Ham (born 1973), Dutch politician and actor
- Boris Vian, French polymath
- Boris Williams, British musician; former member of The Cure
- Boris Yeltsin, Soviet and Russian politician; first democratically elected President of Russia, serving from July 1991 to December 1999
- Boris Zaitchouk, Soviet hammer thrower
- Boris Zeisser (born 1968), Dutch architect
- Boris Živković, Croatian footballer
Fictional characters
- Boris Badenov, villain in the 1960s animated cartoons The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
- Boris Drubetskoy, army officer in Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War And Peace
- Boris Grishenko, Russian hacker working for terrorists in the James Bond movie GoldenEye
- Boris Grushenko, main character in the film Love and Death, played by Woody Allen
- Boris Kropotkin, Jewish character in the television show Rugrats
- Boris "the Blade" Yurinov, arms dealer in the film Snatch
- Boris Pavlikovsky, character in Donna Tartt's 2013 novel The Goldfinch
- Boris, mightiest of the Warriors of Loathing in the Times of Old, from the internet game Kingdom of Loathing
- Boris, Soviet army unit in strategy game Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
- Boris the Animal, villain in Men in Black 3
- Boris, Borzoi in the Lady and the Tramp cartoon
- Boris, Russian goose in the Balto movies
- "Boris the Spider", 1966 song by The Who
- "Boris", song from The Melvins' 1991 album Bullhead
- Boris, villain in The Calculus Affair, a 1956 book from the Tintin series
- Boris, a red fish in the eponymous Italian TV series
- Boris, the father on the PBS Kids show Caillou
- Boris the wolf, a character from the episodic puzzle horror video game Bendy and the Ink Machine
References
- ^ Васил Н. Златарски.История на Първото българско царство. Междудържавното положение на България и покръщането на българите.
- ^ Проф. Веселин Бешевлиев (Издателство на Отечествения фронт, София 1981)
- ^ 1100 години от смъртта на княз Борис І. Христо Трендафилов.
- ^ Boris - Name Meaning and Origin
- ^ The etymology and history of first names.
- ^ OMDA, Околосветското пътешествие на името Борис.
- ^ Материалы русской истории.Основные материалы для изучения русской истории.КИЕВСКИЙ КНЯЗЬ ЯРОСЛАВ ВЛАДИМИРОВИЧ.
- ^ Киевская Русь и ее южные соседи. Киевская Русь и Болгария. Archived May 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ПОКРЪСТВАНЕТО НА КИЕВСКА РУС И БЪЛГАРИТЕ, д-р Горан Благоев, БНТ.
- ^ Святой благоверный и равноапостольный царь Борис Болгарский.
- ^ Princes Boris and Gleb: Proto-martyrs and Passion-Bearers of Old Russia
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