Jolyon

English

Etymology

Medieval spelling of Julian, revived by Galsworthy in Forsyte Saga.

Proper noun

Jolyon

1. A male given name from Latin, in quiet use since the 1920s.
   • 1920 October, John Galsworthy, Awakening, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 6:

     In that Summer of 1909 the simple souls who even then desired to simplify the English tongue, had, of course, no cognizance of little Jon, or they would have claimed him for a disciple. But one can be too simple in this life, for his real name was Jolyon, and his living father and dead half-brother had usurped of old the other shortenings, Jo and Jolly. As a fact little Jon had done his best to conform to convention and spell himself first Jhon, then John; not till his father had explained the sheer necessity, had he spelled his name Jon.