Taras
A masculine given name of Slavic origin meaning "from the Taurus mountains".
Name Census estimates that about 593 living Americans carry the first name Taras. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Taras today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taras births was 1969 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taras. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
593
~ 1 in 578,001 Americans
Peak year
1969
36 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,143
Tracked since 1922
Popularity
Taras: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taras from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 169 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Taras by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Taras during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taras' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Taras, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Taras
The name Taras is of Greek origin, derived from the ancient Greek city of Taras, which is now known as Taranto in southern Italy. The city was founded in the 8th century BC by Spartan settlers, and the name is believed to be derived from the Greek word "taras," meaning a type of dolphin or sea creature.
In ancient times, the name Taras was associated with the legendary Greek hero Taras, who was said to have founded the city of Taras. According to Greek mythology, Taras was a son of the god Poseidon and a nymph named Satria. The name appears in various ancient Greek texts and historical records related to the city of Taras and its inhabitants.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Taras was Taras of Tarentum, a Greek colonist who lived in the 7th century BC and is believed to have been one of the founders of the city of Taras. Another notable figure was Taras of Berytus, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 2nd century AD and wrote commentaries on the works of Euclid and Apollonius of Perga.
In later centuries, the name Taras was adopted by various individuals across Europe and the Mediterranean region. One notable bearer was Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, and political figure who is widely regarded as the father of modern Ukrainian literature and a significant cultural and national icon.
Another famous Taras was Taras Bulba (c. 1575-1623), a semi-legendary Ukrainian Cossack leader who fought against Polish rule in Ukraine. His exploits were immortalized in the novel "Taras Bulba" by Nikolai Gogol, which became a classic of Russian literature.
In more recent times, Taras Kuzio (born 1958) is a British-Ukrainian academic and political scientist who has written extensively on Ukrainian politics and the post-Soviet transition. Taras Prokhasko (born 1968) is a contemporary Ukrainian writer and journalist known for his novels and essays.
The name Taras has also been used by individuals from other cultures and backgrounds, such as Taras Bilozir (born 1961), a Ukrainian-Canadian ice hockey player, and Taras Ihor Ozar, a Ukrainian-American mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of functional analysis.
People
Taras + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taras as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Taras: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taras?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 593 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taras going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 578,001 US residents.
Is Taras a common name?
We classify Taras as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 666 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taras most popular?
The single biggest year for Taras was 1969, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taras is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Taras a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taras in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.