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 [ 3 syll. da-riu(s), dar-i-us ] The boy name Darius is pronounced as DerAYahS KEY. Darius is used chiefly in the English, German, and Lithuanian languages, and its origin is Old Persian. The name is of the meaning protector, wealthy, possessor of good, upholder of good. Derived from the elements 'daraya' meaning to possess, to hold, to maintain ; 'vahu' meaning good, well. Dareios (Old Greek), Darius (Latin), and Dârayavahush (Old Persian) are old forms of Darius. The name was borne by several Persian kings, including Darius I the Great (549BC-486BC) who restored the heritage of Cyrus the Great in the empire, and his great-grandson Darius III (380BC-330BC), who lost the empire to Alexander the Great. It was also borne by an early Christian martyr. The name Daria (English, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, and Russian) is the female form of Darius. Darius has 17 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Darius used in English include Darian, Darien, Dario (also used in Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish), Darion, Darrian, Darrien, Darrion, and Darrius. The pet form Derry is another English variant. Foreign variants of Darius include Dareios (Greek), Dariush (Iranian), Dariusz (Polish), Darío (Spanish), Daroosh (Iranian), and Daryush (Iranian). Specific foreign variants include the pet forms Darek (Polish) and Darko (Slavic). See also the related form, Ladarius (English). Darius is a fairly popular baby name for boys. The name's popularity jumped from the 1950s up to the 1990s. At the peak of its usage in 1994, 0.107% of baby boys were given the name Darius. Its ranking then was #155. The baby name has since experienced a fall in popularity. In 2008, its usage was 0.048% and its ranking #318, but it was nonetheless the most popular out of all boy names in its group. In 2008, Darius was thrice as popular as the next most popular name, Darian (English). Baby names that sound like Darius include Dariush (Iranian), Dariusz (Polish), Darrius (English), Dereck (English), Diederik (Dutch), Dieterich (German), Dragisa (Slavic), Darach (Irish), Darcey (English), Darcy (English), Dareios (Greek), Darek (Polish), Darick (English), Darik (English), Darko (Slavic), Daroosh (Iranian), Darrek (English), Darrick (English), Darrik (English), and Darsell (English). A famous person named Darius is Singer Darius Danesh, born 19 August 1980, Glasgow, Scotland. KEY: Pronunciation for Darius: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; AY as in "hide (HH.AY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)"   |
