Cyrus

—

Boy Persian /SY-rus/ #10490 in 2023

Cyrus is a boy name of Persian origin.

Meaning of Cyrus

"Sun, lord." Name of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE — praised in the Hebrew Bible as God's chosen liberator of the Jewish exiles.

Arabic root: Old Persian Kūruš — possibly "sun" or "far-sighted"

Regional variants

The Anglicized "Cyrus" reads easily in the US and rides the general trend toward classical names. "Kourosh" is preferred by Iranian-American families keeping the Persian pronunciation.

Popularity of Cyrus

Popularity, 1880–2023

1,131 births in 2023

1880 2023

26,528 U.S. births recorded from 1880–2023. Used for both boys and girls — see notes below.

Peak year

2023

1,131 babies

First recorded

1880

Earliest SSA data

Recent trend

Rising

Last 5 yrs vs. prior 5

Variants & nicknames

KouroshKurushKoorosh

Famous people named Cyrus

Cyrus the Great
Cyrus Vance (US statesman)

Similar names

All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew shoshan, meaning lotus flower in Egyptian, original derivation, and several other languages

Carol

Girl · Germanic languages

Shortened from Caroline

Cynthia

Girl · Ancient Greek

from Κυνθία, feminine of Κύνθιος

Catherine

Girl · Ancient Greek

from Αἰκατερίνη, Ἑκατερίνη, of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος, or from the name of the goddess Hecate

About this page

Popularity counts come from the U.S. Social Security Administration's national dataset. Meaning and cultural context drawn from classical sources: Lisan al-Arab, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Qur'an and Sunnah. If you spot an error, please let us know.