Kylian

Kylian is the French and Breton form of Killian, an Anglicization of the Irish Cillian, from cill for church or, per another tradition, ceallach for strife. A seventh-century Irish monk bearing the name evangelized what is now Bavaria and has been venerated there for over a millennium. The French spelling, Kylian, took off in Francophone countries and has leapt worldwide thanks to the footballer Kylian Mbappé. At rank 459 in the U.S., it's climbing fast. Two or three syllables, a soft K-L glide into an airy ending. Athletic, continental, and softly ecclesiastical at once. A cross-channel name with saints and strikers in its lineage.