Qilin
A Chinese name for the qilin, a mythical creature sometimes called the Chinese unicorn. Barely a handful of people in Poland carry it, split fairly evenly between women and men, so most Poles will never meet one.
Qilin Pronunciation
What Qilin means
Where Qilin comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Qilin comes from Chinese. The characters 麒麟 name a creature that English reference books translate as the Chinese unicorn, though it looks nothing like a horse with a horn. Old descriptions give it scales, hooves, and a single antler. In Polish name registers the origin sits under the label "other," because the root lies outside the Latin and Slavic families that most Polish names draw on.
Chinese legend ties the qilin to sages. One tradition holds that a qilin appeared to Confucius's mother before his birth, and that another was killed shortly before his death, a sign the philosopher read as an ending. The animal was thought to harm no living thing.
There are no Polish diminutives for Qilin, no cross-gender pair, no softened form for a school register. A teacher reading it in a class list meets the name whole. What the child receives is the short meaning intact: chinese unicorn.
How many people are named Qilin
1 in 4269238 men in Poland is named Qilin. 7 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #21278 among male names.