Cyrus
An ancient name of Greek and Persian association, probably linked in older scholarship to power or to the sun, though its exact origin is uncertain.
The #7,322 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,752 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname ultimately comes from the ancient personal name Cyrus, famous from Cyrus the Great of Persia. Older dictionaries often treated the name as Greek and glossed it as meaning something like “an heir” or “miserable,” but that explanation is not secure. Modern scholarship more often connects the name with an Iranian root, though the precise derivation remains debated.
History
As a surname, Cyrus is usually taken from the given name rather than from a place or occupation. The personal name became widely known in Europe through biblical and classical tradition, especially the figure of Cyrus the Great in the Old Testament and Greek historians. In English-speaking countries it is comparatively uncommon as a surname, and many modern bearers may have inherited it as a family name formed from an ancestor’s forename.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century dictionary glossed Cyrus as “an heir, or miserable,” but that etymology is not generally accepted today.
From the historical record
“CYPRIAN. (Greek.) From the isle of Cyprus. CYRUS. An heir, or miserable. DANIEL. (Heb.) Judgment of God. DAVID. (Heb.) Beloved, dear. DEMETRIUS. (Greek.) Belonging to Ceres. DENIS, or DENNIS. A contraction of Dionysius (which see). DERRICK, DERIOK, and DIRK. (Dutch.) An abbreviation of Theodorick (which see).”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names