BORIS

Russian: from the Tartar nickname Bogoris ‘small’. Later, however, it was taken to be a shortened form of the Russian name Borislav, from bor ‘battle’ + slav ‘glory’. The name was borne in the 9th century by a ruler of Bulgaria who converted his kingdom to Christianity and gave shelter to disciples of saints Cyril and Methodius when they were expelled from Moravia. The name was also borne by a 10th-century Russian saint, son of Prince Vladimir of Kiev and brother of St Gleb. It is as a result of his influence that Boris is one of the very few non-classical names that the Orthodox Church allows to be taken as a baptismal name (although the saint himself bore the baptismal name Romanus). It is borne by the British journalist and politician Boris Johnson (b. 1964).