Rareș

Origin and meaning of Rareș

Rareș is an exclusively Romanian name, built on the adjective rar, “rare, sparse”, which continues the Latin rarus. It began as the byname of voivode Petru Rareș, son of Ștefan cel Mare and ruler of Moldavia in the sixteenth century, and only became a given name in the twentieth century. Unknown outside the country, it is now one of the fastest-rising choices for Romanian newborns, often paired into compounds such as Rareș-Ștefan or Rareș-Andrei.

Famous people

• Petru Rareș— prince