Meaning & Origin
Xerxes I, a Persian king of the Achaemenid dynasty who reigned 485-465 BC.
Xerxes is a boy's baby name of Persian origin, from the Old Persian Khshayarsha, composed of khshaya (king) and arsha (male, hero), meaning 'ruler of heroes' or 'king of kings.'
Xerxes I, who reigned over the Achaemenid Persian Empire from 485-465 BC, led the famous invasion of Greece — the campaign commemorated in the Battle of Thermopylae (where 300 Spartans faced his army) and immortalized in Zack Snyder's film 300. As a given name, Xerxes carries over 2,500 years of Persian imperial history and one of antiquity's most dramatic stories. The X opening makes it immediately striking.