Paris - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Paris [ 2 syll. pa-ris, par-is ] is also used as a girl name, and it is more frequently a girl name. Its pronunciation is PAERIHS ^KEY. Paris is used predominantly in the English language and it is derived from Old Greek origins. The name was borne in Greek mythology by the prince of Troy, whose kidnap of Helen sparked off the Trojan war, which ended with the Greeks sacking the city of Troy; the story is famous from Homer's Iliad. The name was also borne by a 4th century Greek bishop and saint in Teano, Italy. See Paris for more info.

The name Paride (Italian) is a variant of Paris. Pariss (English variant spelling) is another form of Paris.

Paris is an unusual baby name for boys. Its usage peaked in 1991 with 0.014% of baby boys being given the name Paris. It ranked at #592 then. The baby name has since experienced a steep loss in popularity, and is currently of very modest use. Among all boy names in its group, Paris was nonetheless the most frequently used in 2007. Though Paris is currently more often than not a girl name, there was a period before 1984 when more boys were given the name. From 1985 on, increasingly more girls than boys were named Paris. In 2000, the name Paris was given to 3 times as many girls than boys.

Baby names that sound like Paris include Percy (English), Pariss (English), Páraic (Irish), Perce (English), Pierce (English), and Piers (English).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Paris: P as in "pee (P.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Paris
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Paris
in 2007