Darius

Where Darius comes from

Borrowed from Latin Dārīus, from Ancient Greek Δᾱρεῖος (Dāreîos), from Old Persian 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎢𐏁 (Dārayauš), shortened form of 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 (Dārayavaʰuš); see there for more.
— Wiktionary's entry for Darius
  • Old Persian
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 475 BC
    Darius II born
    The ninth Achaemenid emperor
  2. 380 BC
    Darius III born
    last king of the Achaemenid Empire (r. 336–330 BC)
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #600 among boys — 10 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1991
    Peak, #152
    2,118 babies named Darius — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2008
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #318.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Old Persian.
Namesakes
  • Darius III · last king of the Achaemenid Empire (r. 336–330 BC), 380 BC–330 BC
  • Darius II · The ninth Achaemenid emperor, 475 BC–404 BC
  • Darius Milhaud · French composer, 1892–1974
  • Darius Songaila · Lithuanian basketball player, born 1978
  • Darius Vassell · English association football player, born 1980

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.