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[Facts] Re: How would you pronounce this name?
That what I suspected. The “soul” pronunciation comes from a Roman god/the sun so it makes sense that it might be rare today.
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There is a natural tendency to limit the pronounced length of names, so a long 3 syllable name like Solomon is rarely going to have a long first vowel, and this (usually) carries through to short forms like Sol. This is a general rule for names in the Germanic-language world, long first-syllable names will generally be only one or two syllables, 3 syllable names will have all short syllables, no matter what language the name is from (unless it is recognizably foreign or unfamiliar), even if the third syllable was originally long. If necessary one or more vowels will be unvoiced or skipped altogether. of course the real difference between SAHL and SOUL is not value or length, but in the tendency of English-speakers to "break" a long o into a diphthong, reflected in the spelling (soul, bowl, coal - although in some of these cases the diphthong arose from an /o/ or /a/ followed by a /w/ and another unvoiced vowel).
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What is surprising to me is that so many people who have responded to this thread see the name "Sol" as a Spanish word and not as the short form of Solomon. Solomon is not so unusual as a first name, and as you say, in English it's pronounced with short vowels and not as Sole-omon.

This message was edited 6/17/2020, 7:41 PM

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