Given name & surname
Taras
“to trouble, to agitate”
Taras is a masculine given name from Ukrainian.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Taras is a romanization of Тарас. Тарас goes back to Ancient Greek ταράσσω, meaning “to trouble, to agitate.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Greek, although the derivation remains uncertain.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1922. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Taras through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 671
- 671 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1969
- 36 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #13,673 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,673 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 36 in 1969. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,790 as a first name in 2020; 631 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Taras’s family of names
In Ukrainian usage, Taras as a surname is a transliteration of Тарас.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Taras
- Taras ShevchenkoUkrainian poet and artist (1814–1861)
- Taras StepanenkoUkrainian footballer (born 1989)
- Taras MykhalykUkrainian footballerborn 1983
- Taras KompanichenkoUkrainian kobzar, badurist, lirnyk, and composerborn 1969
- Taras RomanczukPolish-Ukrainian association football playerborn 1991
- Taras ProkhaskoUkrainian/writer/essayist/journalistborn 1968
- Taras ShelestyukAmateur World Champion, Ukrainian Boxerborn 1985
- Taras MishchukUkrainian canoeistborn 1995
- Taras BurlakRussian footballerborn 1990
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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