From Latin meaning bull, also the name of a zodiac sign and constellation.
Taurus derives directly from the Latin word for bull, taurus, which is itself cognate with the ancient Greek tauros and traces back to Proto-Indo-European roots describing the great horned bovine that was central to agricultural civilization. The bull was among the most powerful symbols in the ancient world: in Minoan Crete, bull-leaping was a sacred ritual; in Mesopotamia, the bull represented divine strength; in Rome, the tauroctony — the slaying of a bull — was the central mystery of the Mithraic religion. When astronomers catalogued the night sky, they gave the name Taurus to one of the oldest recognized constellations, home to the Pleiades and the Hyades star clusters, and to the red giant Aldebaran, the bull's eye.
As a zodiac sign — governing those born from late April through late May — Taurus acquired its own rich symbolic vocabulary: steadfastness, sensuality, patience, and a deep connection to the earth and material beauty. Astrology gave the name a second life in popular culture, making Taurus synonymous with reliability and a certain grounded physical presence. The name has also attached itself to a line of Ford automobiles and a mountain range in southern Turkey, the Taurus Mountains, keeping it visible in everyday language.
As a given name, Taurus is exceptionally rare, which is precisely its appeal for some parents: it is mythologically dense, cosmologically grand, and completely uncommon. A child named Taurus arrives with the weight of the stars, the ancient bull cults, and the soil beneath all civilization.