Or [name]Quillan[/name], or [name]Quillen[/name]? I really like the name and think it has a cool sound and look to it.
When I saw it, it read “KEY-an” to me… maybe because I’m relatively familiar with the French language and a double L is so commonly a “y” sound. Although by that token, the “n” after the “o” should be near-silent as well, but I didn’t find myself really going there. If anything else, I would have guessed “KWIL-an.”
But when I looked it up the listing for the [name]Quillan[/name] and [name]Quillon[/name] versions of the spelling, it says “KILL-on” for the pronunciation. I don’t like that as much! I find it interesting that the origin of [name]Quillan[/name] is Irish, and [name]Quillon[/name], Latin or Greek. Is anyone familiar enough with those languages to know if that pronunciation is accurate? Would it be weird to choose to pronounce this name one of the ways I thought it was pronounced?
[name]Just[/name] looking at it I would have guessed with your french version for the same reason you did. I found a pronunciation key on another name site (Quillon - Meaning of Quillon, What does Quillon mean?) that says essentially Kwil-un with irish gaelic or latin orig too. THEN I looked here Quillon Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com and found a french orig with your desired pronunciation. My theory is if you can justify it (as opposed to making it up completely) and it is not “common” somewhere else as kwil-un go for it;)
But either way figure people will have just as much confusion as to how to say it as you did and will mispronounce it half of the time. Our son’s name is [name]Uli[/name]. We pronounce it like [name]Julie[/name] w/o the J. In some languages it is more commonly said with a short u…and that is how most people think it is pronounced when they see it. [name]Alas[/name], that’s one of the faults of many unique names. Good luck.
[name]Ah[/name], I am more ignorant than I thought and want to say Kwill-un. Or maybe that is OK? I mean in Irish names Qu does say Kw sometimes a la [name]Quinn[/name]. I think in any case you’ll get that A LOT if you use it, because it’s the usual sound for Qu and also because it’s close to the word quill and the name [name]Quentin[/name]. I actually like Kwill-un because I think a quill is a cool image in a name.
If you want to use Kill-un or something similar, I would spell it [name]Kilan[/name], [name]Killan[/name], [name]Killian[/name], etc.
See for me, this is an issue. I know in Greek it’s suppose to be kee-lon (not Kill, more of a Kee sound) but i dislike it. When I read it in English, I see the work [name]Quill[/name] (kwil) and I pronounce it kwil-on. I want to use it for that pronunciation, for the nn [name]Quill[/name], since my husband and I are both writers.
I think if you’re a French speaker and it would naturally make that sound in your language, than this is one that it’s okay to pronounce differently. I think for an English speaker, with the word [name]Quill[/name] in there, it’s okay to pronounce it kwil-on.
So I think pronouncing this one your own way is fine with this one because all those pronunciations are justifiable.
@country_mouse, thanks so much for looking into that for me! I’m glad that I’m not totally nuts and there is a French way of saying it that somewhat matches what I thought. And also that the Irish pronunciation really leans more to KWIL-an.
I guess it would be pretty difficult to force a non-english pronunciation on it, since most people would see it as “kwil-an.” But the more I say it that way, the more I like it.
@dantea, I like the association with the word “quill,” too, because like I’m also a writer.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I still like the name and I think I’ll keep it in my list of “maybe’s.”