Related to Old Norse Sol, meaning sun.
Soli carries several distinct and equally vivid etymological lives. In the Zoroastrian Parsi tradition of India, Soli is a beloved given name — likely a pet form of Sorab or a standalone name rooted in the Avestan word for 'sun,' connecting the bearer to Ahura Mazda's luminous creation. Persian and ancient Iranian cultures revered solar symbolism above almost any other, and names echoing that brightness were bestowed as blessings of warmth and clarity.
Soli appears in Parsi community registers from Bombay (now Mumbai) throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a mark of proud Zoroastrian identity. Latin offers a parallel root: sol, simply meaning 'sun,' which underpins names from Solange to Solomon and branches into Romance languages across the Mediterranean. In this lineage Soli reads as an intimate, radiant diminutive — sunlight distilled to two syllables.
There is also a town called Soli (later Pompeiopolis) in ancient Cilicia, Asia Minor, so legendarily associated with corrupted Greek speech that it gave the English language the word 'solecism.' In the twenty-first century Soli has emerged as a quietly cosmopolitan choice, fitting comfortably in Scandinavian, South Asian, Latin American, and anglophone households simultaneously. Its brevity is part of its appeal — it feels both complete and open, like a name that leaves room for the person to grow into their own story. The solar thread running through all its origins gives parents an intuitive sense that they are naming a child after something enduring and bright.