- Origin: Ancient Egyptian
- Meaning: unknown
- Gender: masculine
- Ὄσιρις (Greek) ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲓ (Coptic – Bohiric)
From the name of the Ancient Egyptian God of the dead, the afterlife and resurrection, its exact etymology is unknown and debated amongst Egyptologists. The most popular theories is that it either derives from the wsr (the mighty one) or jrt (eye). It is often vocalized as Asar, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, modern Coptic forms are Usir and Usire. Among Copts, it is sometimes Arabized as Uzair, which has a similar sound, but different etymology. However, it has been suggested by linguists that the two names are actually related.
In the United States, it recently entered the U.S. Top 1000 Male Names, it is currently the 976th most popular male names.
Other forms include:
- Osir ⲟⲥⲓⲣ (Coptic)
- Osiride, Osiri (Italian)
Sources