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I'd probably never use this name, but it caught my interest when I saw it on a site listing Irish names, because I'd never encountered it before. Apparently pronounced OOH-lahn. The given meaning on the site I saw it was "one who worships a different god," and that's the part that threw me. First of all, how do you get that much meaning into one small name, and second, how could a name with such a provocative meaning have come into use? Somebody at Urban Dictionary claims that "Iollan" was a name the Irish pagans used to describe the Christian invaders, but I'm dubious -- first, because it's Urban Dictionary, and second, if it was used as an epithet, then how would it have ever come into use as a given name?

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Anyone with information on this name -- especially its meaning? Thanks.

This message was edited 1/13/2011, 9:21 AM