Cyrus
Male namePersian
✨ Meaning
Cyrus is the Greek and Latin rendering of the Old Persian Kurush, whose meaning is debated among specialists. Proposals include 'sun,' 'young' and 'humiliator of the enemy,' and the ancient sources themselves disagree, so the honest position is that the etymology is unresolved. What is certain is the stature of the name, attached to the founder of one of the largest empires the ancient world produced.
🌍 Origin
Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the sixth century BC and is remembered in the Hebrew Bible for permitting the Jewish return to Jerusalem, which gave the name a rare double standing in Persian and Jewish tradition alike. English-speaking Puritans took it up for that biblical connection, and it remains in steady use in Iran, the Iranian diaspora and the United States.
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⭐ Famous People Named Cyrus
- Cyrus the Great
- Cyrus Vance
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What does Cyrus mean?
The Old Persian original Kurush has a disputed meaning, with 'sun' and 'young' among the leading proposals. No reading is settled.
Is Cyrus a biblical name?
Yes. Cyrus the Great appears in the Hebrew Bible as the ruler who permitted the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem.
How is Cyrus pronounced?
In English it is SY-russ. The Persian form Kurosh is pronounced koo-ROSH.