I’ve come across a couple of new names over the past few days, and I’m interested in getting some thoughts about them.
1- [name]Solon[/name] (pronounced soh-lun)-- an ancient Greek name meaning ‘wise-one’
2- [name]Sulien[/name] (I can’t figure out if it’s pronounced seel-ee-en or sul-yen, any Welsh speakers here in Nameberry that could shed some light on the pronunciation?)-- a Welsh name meaning ‘sun-born’
3- [name]Bolan[/name]-- an Irish name meaning ‘little poet’
4- [name]Olin[/name]— an English name meaning ‘holy’
I like these names, the sound and the meaning. Plus, as our kid’s are half-Chinese and will be largely raised in [name]China[/name], these names actually have potentially much closer matching Chinese names then most of our other top options. So I am quite intrigued by these names at the moment. The first two in particular are quite intriguing to me.
I know a [name]Bolan[/name] and [name]Olin[/name]. [name]One[/name] as a last name people nn him as his name. I think [name]Olin[/name] works well worldwide.
[name]Solon[/name] reminds me of colon, but [name]Sulien[/name] is intriguing.
1- [name]Solon[/name] - I like this rare Greek name and its meaning.
2- [name]Sulien[/name] - I love the meaing of ‘sun-born’.
3- [name]Bolan[/name]-- an Irish name with a great meaning ‘little poet’ but it makes me think of the tragic singer-songwriter [name]Marc[/name] [name]Bolan[/name] of the glam rock group T.[name]Rex[/name].
4- [name]Olin[/name]— I associate this name as more Scandinavian than English due to Swedish actress [name]Lena[/name] [name]Olin[/name].
I like [name]Sulien[/name] and [name]Solon[/name] the best but I still feel that they’re similar to Rayhan. I think [name]Sulien[/name] with its three-syllable pronunciation would be the best choice of the four.
These are very intriguing. I’d probably rank them in this order:
[name]Sulien[/name]–This name is new to me, but I tend to like Welsh names, and I love the sound, look and meaning of this name. In [name]China[/name] you probably wouldn’t have as much confusion due to [name]Sulien[/name]'s similarity to [name]Julien[/name]/[name]Julian[/name] as you’d have in a mainly English-speaking country.
[name]Olin[/name]–A very simple and beautiful name with a great meaning. It sounds as if it would be easy to find a Chinese sound-alike for [name]Olin[/name].
[name]Solon[/name]–The similarity to the word colon puts me off a little, but not much. This is a balanced and dignified name, and I’m also intrigued by the fact that (even though it isn’t) it looks like a contraction of the name [name]Solomon[/name], which means “peace” but of course is also associated with wisdom.
[name]Bolan[/name]–Also an intriguing choice, but probably my least favorite of the four, I think because it sounds a little like bolo (as in bolo tie) and bowling. I am not surprised you like it, as I remember both [name]Roland[/name] and [name]Nolan[/name] from your earlier lists. Though [name]Bolan[/name] is certainly more unusual, I think I like the others better.
I may be wrong, but it’s my understanding that Chinese have trouble pronouncing the letter “l” when it’s in the middle of a word. This could result in your son’s name creating awkwardness for the people who live around him… You may want to check with a Mandarin speaker?
Thanks for the thoughts!
As far as [name]Solon[/name] sounding a little similar to colon, I do hear that now that it’s been mentioned. To me it also evokes a similar feeling to [name]Solomon[/name]/[name]Salman[/name], which I appreciate.
I do really like [name]Sulien[/name] a lot, though being a non-Welsh speaker the pronunciation ([name]SEEL[/name]-ee-en) paired up with the spelling doesn’t quite fit right in my brain. I’ll have to let this name simmer.
@evelyns_mom- the letter ‘l’ can be a bit difficult in the middle of a word, but it’s very common as the beginning of a character. So for example with a name like [name]Solon[/name] (soh-lun), there’d be two characters, one that sounds like ‘soh’ and one that sounds like ‘lun’ (not quite exactly, but relatively close). Then he’d go by the Chinese name among his Chinese friends and family.
I’m afraid that together [name]Bolan[/name] and [name]Olin[/name] immediately brought to mind dwarfes from the Hobbit. I know [name]Bolan[/name] as a last name, so it’s hard to move first. [name]Solon[/name] is a famous ancient law-giver, and seem kind of heavy for a kid to wear. With Sullien I could only think sullen; maybe better to go with [name]Sullivan[/name]? [name]How[/name] about [name]Odin[/name] instead of [name]Olin[/name]?
I like [name]Solon[/name] very much. I see the similarities to [name]Solomon[/name].
Like you the English side of my brain has a hard time with [name]Sulien[/name] = seel-ee-en but it’s a very interesting name.
I’m beginning to like [name]Solon[/name] quite a lot. It’s got a lot of the qualities I look for in a name, and though I do see how lots of people think it sounds similar to colon (my mom thought our first son’s name (Rayhan) sounded really similar to rayon, but now everyone loves the name and I never think of rayon), to me that doesn’t matter too much, as it reminds me much more of [name]Solomon[/name] or ‘soul-in’ or even [name]Nolan[/name], etc. And it still has that ancient, noble feel to me, which I really like.
We named our son [name]Solon[/name] [name]Jude[/name]. I went through so many baby name books and this was the only two that sounded right. I had heard this name only once before after seeing the the musician [name]Solon[/name] Bixler play a few times. It stuck with me after that. I also liked the names [name]Desmond[/name] and [name]Lucius[/name]. When he was born, many of the nurses thought his name was [name]Solomon[/name] when Id say it. I have heard it pronounced Soul-in or Sah-[name]Lin[/name] or Sah-[name]Lon[/name] or Soul-On. I just say he can decide which he prefers when hes older, since it seems to be a dialect choice. We did discuss the [name]Colon[/name] similarity, but decided that when that would be a name calling problem would be elementary school, and most kids don’t know what a colon is at that age. I just wanted to let you know first hand how much we love the name and that it is out there again. I read it last was used somewhat often in the mid 1800s. Other older boys names that I’ve heard locally and in a playgroup we attend is [name]Otto[/name] and [name]Ezra[/name]. Good luck.
