Solon
Masculine
Solon is a name that became a word. The Athenian who carried it was asked to rewrite his city's laws at a moment when it was close to tearing itself apart, and he did it and then left the country for ten years so nobody could pressure him to change anything. English newspapers still call a legislator a solon, which is a strange sort of immortality.
How old is the name Solon?
Solon was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Solon alive today was born around 1943, making them about 82 years old. About 600 people named Solon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Solon most popular?
Solon peaked in 1881, reaching #503 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,505 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Solon
Solon was archon of Athens in the early sixth century before the common era, and his reforms canceled debts, freed citizens who had been enslaved for them, and opened the assembly to men who had been shut out. He was counted among the Seven Sages, and Herodotus tells a famous story of him refusing to call a rich king happy while the king was still alive. American parents in the nineteenth century reached constantly into the classical world for names, and Solon was one of the harvest — given alongside Homer, Virgil, Horace and Cicero in a country that had just built itself a republic and wanted the ancestry to match.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Greek name has no agreed derivation. It is old enough that the Greeks themselves did not explain it, and the connections proposed since are speculative. What can be said with certainty is what the name came to mean, which is a lawgiver — a sense it acquired entirely from one man.
Pronouncing Solon
SOH-lun
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Greek puts more weight on the second syllable, but the American saying has been fixed for a century and a half.
Nicknames for Solon
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192529 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #503reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- −28.6%5 in 2025, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Solon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Solon in Greek — transliteration
- Solón in Spanish — same name
Solons among us
people named Solon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Solon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Solon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Solon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Solon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It belongs to a documented historical figure whose reforms are still studied.
- Sol is available as a short form and is warm in a way the full name is not.
- Five letters, two syllables, and no ambiguity for an English reader.
- The name is also an English word, which gives a child something genuinely interesting to say about it.
- It carries a heavy classical weight that a small boy has to grow into.
- Its meaning cannot be given, and the honest answer is that nobody has ever known.
- It is a town name several times over in the United States, so it will be read as a place by some people.
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What they receive
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Solon
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Solons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Solon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Solon in 2025?
- Solon ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Solon?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Solon — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Solon with classmates?
- Solon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Solon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Solon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Solon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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