Nolan

//ˈnoʊlən// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Irish.

    "Recently, Christopher Nolan made an interesting admission: The most famous line from his fan-favorite Batman film, 2008’s The Dark Knight, wasn’t his creation and was a line that he initially didn’t quite get. Nolan said his brother, frequent collaborator and co-writer Jonathan came up with the prophetic line, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”"

  2. 2
    A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. 3
    An unincorporated community in Nolan County, Texas, United States.
  4. 4
    An unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States.

Example

More examples

"Batman Begins is my favorite Christopher Nolan movie."

Etymology

Anglicized from Irish Ó Nualláin (literally “descendant of Nuallán”), diminutive of nuall (“chariot-fighter, champion”).

Related phrases

Nolan CountyNolan chart

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.