ArabicTurkish use2 syllables
Meaning: horseman, knight, cavalier.
Faris
Faris is the horseman, and behind the word stands furusiyya — Arab chivalry, which unlike the European kind came with textbooks.
| Origin | Arabic — faris, from the root f-r-s; also used in Turkish and across Malay-speaking Asia |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Horseman, knight. From faras, horse; the abstract noun furusiyya covers both horsemanship and the conduct expected of a horseman |
| Pronunciation | FAH-ris, stress on the first syllable, the a broad as in father. The Arabic r is a single tap |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100; an ordinary name in Jordan, Syria and the Gulf, common in Malaysia, and used in Turkey without being frequent there |
| Variants | Fares, the usual Levantine and French spelling; Farris and Faaris in English-language records |
| Nicknames | None in general use, though Fares and Faris often stand in for each other on paper |
| A word that fell together | Faris is also the Arabic name for Persia — the language is farisi and Iran keeps the province of Fars. The two words are unrelated; they simply look alike |
History & meaning
The root f-r-s starts with the animal. Faras is a horse, faris is the man who has one and knows what to do with it, and the pattern is the ordinary agent form fa'il — the doer — that also produces Nasir, the helper, and Salim, the one who is safe. Then the root does something less obvious. Firasa means shrewd perception, the ability to read a man or a situation at sight, and later the whole medieval science of physiognomy. Horse-sense, more or less literally: the judgement of someone whose life depends on reading an animal correctly at speed.
Furusiyya is where the name gets its weight. From the Ayyubid and Mamluk centuries onward it named a real body of instruction — manuals on riding, the lance, mounted archery, cavalry formation, veterinary care — taught to the military households of Cairo and Damascus and written down in treatises that survive. It also named the manners: courage, restraint, protection of the weak, keeping your word. European chivalry was developing over the same centuries and in some of the same places, and the two traditions met on crusader ground, though who taught whom is an argument nobody has settled. Today furusiyya still means both equestrianism and chivalry, and Faris is the man it belongs to.
Why parents choose it
It is brisk and unsentimental, with no religious weight to negotiate and no fashionable softness. It also travels: as Fares it is one of the most familiar Arabic names in France, and English speakers read it correctly on the first try.
Middle names for Faris
The s ending makes a following s-name hiss, so start the middle name elsewhere: Faris Omar, Faris Elias, Faris Nathaniel, Faris Khalid. See the middle names guide for the consonant clashes worth avoiding.
Famous Farises
Faris al-Khoury, a Greek Orthodox Christian, twice served as prime minister of Syria and led the Syrian delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945 — a career that says a good deal about mid-century Damascus. Faris Al-Sultan, born in Munich to a German mother and an Iraqi father, won the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in 2005. Faris Badwan fronts the English band The Horrors.
Consider instead
Tariq keeps the martial register and adds a general who gave his name to Gibraltar. Layth swaps the horseman for the lion. Hamza is the same register again, with a sharper sound and a famous namesake.