Hebrew3 syllablesBiblical
Meaning: peace; peaceable.
Solomon
| Origin | Hebrew — Shlomo, son and successor of King David |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Built on shalom, peace and wholeness; usually rendered “peaceable” or “his peace” |
| Pronunciation | SOL-uh-mun (three syllables); Hebrew shlo-MO |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100, though it has been carried along by the same long revival of Old Testament names that lifted Ezra and Silas |
| Variants | Shlomo (Hebrew), Sulaiman (Arabic), Selemani (Swahili), Salomon (French and German), Salomone (Italian), Salomão (Portuguese) |
| Nicknames | Sol, Solly |
| Shared root | The Semitic root s-l-m runs through shalom, salaam and the name Salim |
History & meaning
Shlomo is peace made into a person. The root is the same one behind shalom, and behind Arabic salaam and the name Salim — a cluster of ideas covering peace, safety and being intact rather than merely the absence of war. The child of David and Bathsheba got the name after a reign of constant fighting, and the books of Kings make the point explicitly: this was to be the builder, not the soldier.
What he built was the First Temple, and what he became was a byword. The judgment of the two mothers, the visit of the Queen of Sheba, the tradition that assigns Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs to his hand — that last is attribution rather than authorship, but it fixed him as the wisdom figure of the tradition. Few names have travelled further. Arabic has him as Sulaiman, a prophet who commands the wind and understands the speech of birds; Swahili speakers along the East African coast say Selemani; and the emperors of Ethiopia claimed descent from him for six centuries.
Why parents choose it
It is one of the few names that sounds ceremonial and still shortens to something a toddler can wear. Sol is warm, Solly is affectionate, and Solomon itself carries more dignity than almost anything else on a birth certificate.
Middle names for Solomon
Three long syllables want a short counterweight: Solomon Reed, Solomon Grant, Solomon Isaiah, Solomon Blake. The middle names guide works through the rhythm.
Famous Solomons
Solomon Northup, born free in New York, was kidnapped and enslaved for twelve years and wrote the memoir that became 12 Years a Slave. Solomon Burke was one of the founding voices of soul music. Solomon R. Guggenheim assembled the collection that became the Manhattan museum bearing his name.
Consider instead
Sulaiman is the same king in Arabic, and a beautiful name in its own right. Samuel keeps the biblical stature at half the length. Josiah is another king of Judah with a softer, more current sound. There is more on the S names page.