Idriss is a form of Idris, used in Arabic tradition for a prophet and in Welsh legend as a noble name.
Idriss is a variant spelling of Idris, a name that carries profound significance in both Islamic and Welsh traditions — a rare quality that has made it something of a crossroads name, beloved in West Africa, the Arab world, and Wales for entirely different reasons. In Islamic tradition, Idris is recognized as a prophet — identified by many scholars with the biblical Enoch — and is mentioned twice in the Quran, praised as a man of truth and a prophet of high station. His name is most often linked to the Arabic root *darasa*, meaning "to study" or "to teach," making him the archetype of the learned, the patient scholar elevated by knowledge.
In Welsh mythology, Cadair Idris — the "Chair of Idris" — is a dramatic mountain in Snowdonia, associated with a giant astronomer-poet whose contemplation of the heavens from its summit was said to grant visitors either madness or poetic inspiration. The two traditions share nothing historically but rhyme thematically: both invoke a solitary figure of extraordinary perception, set apart from ordinary men by what he sees. The double-s spelling of Idriss is particularly common in Francophone West Africa — Senegal, Mali, Guinea — where French colonial orthography shaped how Arabic names were rendered in writing.
Idriss Déby, the long-serving president of Chad who died in 2021, is perhaps the most prominent political bearer of this form. In European and American contexts, the name has gained wider recognition through actor Idris Elba, whose presence brought an effortless cool to a name already rich with centuries of meaning.